


Bandori; Welcome To Despair

by maruyaaya, mitakesgf



Category: BanG Dream! (Anime), BanG Dream! Girl's Band Party! (Video Game), Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Character Death, Danganronpa AU, Established Relationship, F/F, Lots of character death, Multi, aya is protag, bandori danganronpa au, but i will, everyone dies :D, havent seen any danganronpa bandori aus so i thought id write one, hina is support, i dont wanna kill them, i havent written for the majority of these characters and now im writing a dgrp au with them, idk if any bandori gdrp aus exist but pls tell me, man, no beta we die like men, pls it takes so long to write, sayo is antag, swearing warning yeah, they dont have ultimates or anything, updates are so incredibly slow
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-11
Updated: 2020-12-31
Packaged: 2021-03-06 09:15:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 9
Words: 23,281
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25847188
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/maruyaaya/pseuds/maruyaaya, https://archiveofourown.org/users/mitakesgf/pseuds/mitakesgf
Summary: Maruyama Aya finds herself trapped at what looks to be a school with 15 of her closest friends. Trapped with the only way of escape being murder, Aya must figure out who the mastermind is with the help of her girlfriend, Hikawa Hina.
Relationships: Aoba Moca/Mitake Ran, Hikawa Hina/Maruyama Aya, Hikawa Sayo/Imai Lisa/Minato Yukina, Ichigaya Arisa/Toyama Kasumi, Okusawa Misaki/Tsurumaki Kokoro, Seta Kaoru/Shirasagi Chisato, Shirokane Rinko/Udagawa Ako
Comments: 101
Kudos: 91





	1. Prologue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sup uh fair warning, i found this wip from a pretty long time ago and i only now decided to continue writing it so the prologue is comprised of my old writing style so i promise the other chapters will be better!

“Hina-chan! Slow down!” Aya’s voice shook a little as she followed Hina onto the bus. Taking a deep breath, she tried to steady her heavy breathing as she sat down next to Hina. Hina looped an arm around her shoulders, placing a small kiss on her cheek. 

“Looks like you just can’t keep up with me.” Hina let out a small laugh as Aya pouted. The two stared out the window, waiting for the bus to start moving. Aya jumped up and let out a small scream when she felt something tap her back. 

“Woah, Aya-chan, calm down!” a far too familiar voice sounded from behind them. Hina and Aya both whipped around, finding a smiling Chisato sitting next to Kaoru. 

“Chisato-chan! Kaoru-san! I didn’t know you guys were coming!” Aya exclaimed, peering over the edge of the seat at the two girls. Chisato waved and Aya wondered how lucky she was to not only have Hina with her, but also her best friend. 

“Well, it’s not like Kao-chan would ever miss a chance to see an actual Shakespeare play and she drags me everywhere.” Chisato laughed softly, waiting for Kaoru to rebut her claim. Instead of saying anything, Kaoru just threw an arm around Chisato’s shoulders, planting a kiss on her cheek. 

“Shakespeare play? No way! This bus is heading to a boppin new guitar store!” Hina’s eyes lit up as she spoke. Aya wasn’t sure she would ever truly understand what _boppin_ meant, but if Hina lit up like that whenever she spoke about it, Aya hoped she’d never shut up. 

“Hina, did you just say guitar store?” another girl piped up from a different seat and when Aya turned around she saw Sayo. 

“Onee-chan!” Hina squealed at the sight of her sister, but Sayo paid her no mind. 

“We were told that they wanted Roselia to perform at an event.” Yukina chimed in, hand in hand with Lisa. 

“So we were all told that this bus is heading to a different place? This is strange.” Sayo mused aloud, fiddling with a strand of her blue hair. Aya really wasn’t sure what was going on. It all seemed far too strange and there seemed to be far too many people that she knew sitting on this bus. 

Aya scanned the bus, trying to pinpoint all of the people. She noted Kasumi and Arisa from Poppin’ Party, Moca, Tomoe, and Ran from Afterglow, the entirety of Roselia, Chisato, Hina, and herself from Pastel*Palettes, as well as Kaoru, Kokoro, and Misaki from Hello Happy World. It seemed like a strange assortment of people even though they were all connected in some way. 

“I’m getting out of here.” Ran stood up and headed towards the door of the bus, trying to pull it open, “hey, it won’t open!” 

“What?” Tomoe let out a shout as she jumped from her seat and ran up to the door. She banged against the glass, trying to pull it open. She whipped towards the driver, “what the hell, man!” 

The driver said nothing and stared ahead at the road. All of the girls began to shout, screaming for the driver to let them out. Aya grabbed Hina’s hand and squeezed it tight. Hina whispered to her that it was going to be okay as Aya began to hyperventilate. She was getting kidnapped, wasn’t she? It was bound to happen one day, but why did it have to be now. And why did it have to be when she was with Hina? 

Then, a thick smoke began to fill the bus. Aya let out a scream, but before she knew what was happening, she fell to the ground still hand in hand with Hina.

* * *

_”Aya-chan!” Aya could hear Hina yelling her name, yet Hina was nowhere in sight. In fact, everything around her was white. The sky was white, the grass was white, the walls were white. Then it was black. It was black, closing in on her. Squeezing in tighter and tighter until she couldn’t breathe._

_Aya screamed but there was no one around to hear her. Then she spotted Hina, floating at the edge of the darkness. She reached out, trying to grab Hina’s hand. As the two locked fingers, Hina smiled. Hina smiled so wide that it looked almost menacing. She laughed, quiet at first until it grew louder and louder. Hina dropped Aya._

_Aya fell further into the darkness. It consumed her until she couldn’t even think anymore. It was dark; everything was encompassed in darkness._

“Aya-chan! Wake up!” Hina’s voice shocked Aya out of her dream. Aya felt slightly relieved that it had just been a dream.

“Hina-chan, what’s going on?” Aya yawned as she spoke, grabbing Hina’s hand. Hina practically shook her as Aya blinked slowly, noticing everyone else from the bus already awake. 

“You took _forever_ to wake up! We’re supposed to meet here and everyone woke up before you so I had to carry you!” Hina practically jumped up and down, fingers still looped with Aya’s. Aya was about to apologize for sleeping for so long, until a voice interrupted her. 

“Good morning everyone!” the voice was so bright and cheerful that it felt almost ominous. A whisper ran along the crowd as Ako and Rinko looked at eachother. 

“Rinrin, do you recognize that voice.” Ako trailed off as she whispered to Rinko. 

“Um… we need to get out of here… right now…” Despite her stuttering, Rinko was louder than Aya had ever heard her. She wondered what about that voice made Ako and Rinko so terrified. 

“Heyyy! Leaving so soon! You’re not allowed to do that! Especially since you’re supposed to live here forever!” Aya felt faint when she saw where the voice was coming from. A large black and white bear jumped up from behind the table. 

“It’s… Monokuma.. He’s from the video game.. Danganronpa… Ako and I.. played together...” Rinko stared up at the bear, furrowing her eyebrows at the sight. 

“That’s right! I am Monokuma! And you’re all going to live a communal school life right here forever!” the bear announced, its single red eye glowing as it spoke. 

“What do you mean ‘forever’” Tomoe ran up to the edge of the stage, held back by both Ran and Moca. Tomoe tried to fight against their grasp, but the two tightened their grip. Ako quickly skipped over to her sister and placed an arm around her. 

“Onee-chan, you can’t fight that thing! It’ll blow up!” Ako yelled as Tomoe’s movements slowed. Moca and Ran let go of her and Tomoe turned towards Ako as if she wasn’t sure what Ako had just said. Ako repeated her phrase and Tomoe froze, realizing that if Moca and Ran hadn’t held her back, she might’ve just died. 

“I’m not staying here forever. Roselia has things to do.” Yukina briskly turned around and headed back to the door. Monokuma watched as she tried to pull open the door. Even with all her strength, Yukina wasn’t able to move the door even an inch. 

“If you want to leave so badly, there is one way!” Monokuma paused, waiting for an excited murmur to pass through the crowd. The girls around her looked happy, but Aya felt a sense of dread. Monokuma’s eyes lit up, one of them quite literally, “kill someone!” 

“What?” Only one word was able to slip past Aya’s lips. 

“You heard me! If you kill someone and get away with it, then you can leave! Simple as that.” Monokuma’s cheerful voice was a direct contrast to what he was talking about. Aya stumbled backwards into Hina’s arms, unable to comprehend what Monokuma had just said. 

“None of us are going to kill anyone! I’d rather live here forever than kill one of my friends!” Kasumi shouted, jumping up from the front of the crowd. 

“Kasumi-chan is right! We won’t kill each other!” Aya added. Cheers of agreement ran through the group of girls. 

“We’ll see how long your misguided enthusiasm lasts, upupupupu.” Monokuma shrugged, disappearing behind the desk.

* * *

“Looks like we all have our own rooms.” Chisato mused aloud, staring at the nameplates. Each room had a carefully designed nameplate above it with a person’s name as well as caricature of the person. 

“Alas, the door is a burden that stands between me and the vast universe beyond.” Kaoru fiddled with the doorknob of her room, unable to get it open. Chisato let out a small sigh and pointed to her front pocket. 

“Maybe you should try using the e-handbook that the bear handed out? I mean, he did say that it was a key to our rooms.” Chisato explained, waving her e-handbook in front of Kaoru. Kaoru let out a sheepish chuckle at Chisato’s remark. 

Aya had played around with her e-handbook earlier. There was a section of school rules, student I.D.s, and other features as well. The profile of herself had shocked Aya, detailing information that almost no one knew. Hell, even Aya didn’t know her own blood type, yet there it was written clearly in the handbook. 

Aya searched for her room, finding it next to Lisa and Arisa. She felt slightly disappointed that she wasn’t next to Hina, but after seeing Hina’s excited demeanour when she noticed that her room was next to Sayo, Aya couldn’t really be disappointed for long. She was glad that at least someone was able to find some form of happiness in their current situation. 

“Aya-chan! You should try and get some sleep. It’s getting late.” Hina bounded up behind her, giving Aya a quick kiss before running away, not even giving Aya a chance to respond. Aya smiled, watching Hina skip off with a smile on her face. 

Aya scanned her e-handbook on her door and it clicked open. Aya entered and found the room designed exactly to her likings. The bedspread, walls, and decorations were all in various shades of pink. Along with that were racks of her iconic Pastel*Palettes costumes as well as a microphone that was already set up. 

Aya ignored all of her surroundings except for the bed and flopped down onto the soft mattress. She buried herself into the covers, curling up into a ball. She was trapped here forever unless she killed someone. It all seemed so unreal. Talking black and white bears, a school where every exit was locked, and the only way to escape being murder. Aya just wanted to go home. 

_No one’s going to kill anyone, right?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so i tried to make the prologue pretty brief since i assume if youre reading this you already know what danganronpa is. anyways the prologue in every danganronpa game is the same so i just kinda shortened it
> 
> the students: huh why are we here?  
> monokuma: you have to kill each other!  
> the students: no way! we're not gonna kill each other  
> the students: *kill eachother*  
> the students: what


	2. Daily life

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aya explores the school with her friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okok so im thinking ill divide the chapters up by having a daily life chapter which goes up to the body discovery, an investigation which is well,,, the investigation obviously, and then the class trial which will go up to the end of the class trial so yeah..
> 
> (also danganronpa spoilers for all games lol)

Aya awoke to a figure standing above her. She let out a scream and tumbled to the ground, rubbing at her eyes as she scrambled backwards. After a few seconds, her vision cleared and Aya recognized the figure as Hina. 

“Haha, Aya-chan you’re so funny! I can’t believe you fell out of bed!” Hina laughed, sitting on Aya’s bed. Aya crawled up from the ground and sat down next to Hina. 

“How’d you even get it in my room?” Aya asked, tying up her hair into a thick ponytail. Hina looked at her with those inquisitive eyes of hers. 

“You forgot to lock the door, silly!” Hina grabbed Aya’s hand and yanked her off the bed, “Hurry up, we’re all going to meet in the kitchen for breakfast!” 

“I was sure I locked the door.” Aya mused, biting at her fingernails. Hina swatted at her hand, reminding her that idols weren’t supposed to bite their nails. Aya lowered her fingers and let out a small laugh. The two walked over to the kitchen, finding everyone already sitting there. 

“Finally, you’re here. We have some info we’d like to share.” Sayo spoke up first as Hina and Aya took their seats. Chisato whispered a welcome and Sayo stood up, accompanied by Lisa. 

“Sayo and I went exploring last night and we found out that we’re at an abandoned school called Hope’s Peak Academy.” Lisa explained, looping an arm around Sayo’s shoulders. Yukina looked up at the two, eyebrows furrowed as they explained what they had been doing. 

“Hope’s Peak was in the news about a year ago. They had shut down due to a lack of student interest because they had only accepted certain types of students. They only accepted what they considered ‘ultimates’, students who were the best at what they did.” Sayo read from a notepad she was carrying, flipping over to the back. 

“So are we ultimates then?” Kasumi’s hand shot into the air, eyes wide as she imagined what kind of ultimate title she would have. 

“No, I don’t believe so. I believe we were taken here for a different reason. I’ll allow Shirokane-san and Udagawa-san to explain.” Sayo shook her head, setting down her notepad as she sat back down. Ako practically jumped out of her seat and Rinko slowly followed. 

“Rinrin and I played this game called Danganronpa! All the characters have to kill each other and figure out the murderer.” Ako explained, excited at the prospect of talking about a video game until she was reminded about the grim situation they were in. 

“In the third game... the killing games are revealed to be a tv show. We think that… someone is trying to copy Danganronpa V3… and show a killing game to an audience…” Rinko played with a strand of her hair as she spoke, her words barely above a whisper. 

“So then if we just don’t kill each other, then they’ll get bored and let us go.” Ran looked at Moca who nodded in response. 

“But in the games, they give out motives so that we’ll kill each other. I don’t think those motives will affect us though! We’re friends, right? We won’t kill each other!” Ako proudly exclaimed, hands on her hips as she sat back down. 

“Why us? We’re not anything special.” Arisa crossed her arms, furrowing her eyebrows and frowning. 

“Well, all of us are in pretty popular bands! Plus I’d say we all have pretty colorful personalities and people get attached to unique characters in shows.” Lisa smiled, fiddling with her black necklace. Arisa let out a small noise of agreement. The group soon realized that they didn’t have much else to talk about, so after eating a small breakfast prepared by Lisa and Misaki, they disbanded. 

Aya realized she had a little bit of free time so she decided to hang out with Hina for a little bit. The two explored the school together, finding a sauna. Aya felt a bit nervous about using it, thinking that there were more important things to do than lounge around in a sauna, but Hina managed to convince her. 

“What kind of a school even has a sauna anyway?” Aya wondered, slowly sitting down. 

“Who cares! It’s pretty boppin’” Hina shrugged, sitting down next to Aya. The two spent a little bit of time lounging around. Once they’d left the sauna, they spent a little more time together until an announcement came on, saying that it was nighttime. The girls waved goodbye and returned to their respective rooms. 

Aya looked around her room for a bit before going back to sleep. There was a small sewing kit with tools that Monokuma probably wanted them to use for murder. She tried on one of the costumes on the rack and immediately felt guilty. Now wasn’t the time to play with pretty costumes. Her friends’ lives were in danger and so was her own, yet here she was, pretending to be a famous idol in front of the mirror again. 

“God, Aya, what are you doing?” Aya mumbled to herself, slowly changing out of the fluffy pink dress. She changed into her pajamas and tried to go to sleep, although it took her much longer than she’d have liked it to.

* * *

“Upupupu I’m getting bored!” As the girls were having breakfast, the familiar voice shot out from nowhere. Monokuma appeared in front of their eyes and Aya nearly fell off of her chair. Monokuma tilted his head, “I’ve come to give you all a motive!” 

“Hey, fuck off!” Tomoe stood up, nearly running off to attack the bear before remembering what would happen if she did manage to harm it in any way. Ako and Rinko had told the group about the plot and murders of all the games and Tomoe definitely did _not_ want to be impaled by dozens of spears just like Mukuro. 

“Yeah, we don’t want your stupid motive!” Ako added, reaching for a high five from her sister. When one never came, Ako pushed her hand through her hair as if that had been her plan all along. 

“Heyyyy don’t judge my motive before you’ve heard it! I think a lot of you will find it very interesting.” Monokuma’s tone was bright as he jumped up and down. Aya thought that he looked incredibly strange, although the talking bear definitely wasn’t the strangest part of her current situation. 

“Alright, let’s hear it so you can stop spoiling our food with your incessant words. I’m sure none of us will be tempted by your motive.” Sayo continued to eat, watching Monokuma with a look of distaste on her face. 

“Alrighty then! Our motive isssss… the person who gets away with murder will receive a HUGE kickstarter for their career! We’re talking singer, actress, idol, musician, whatever you want! Instant famous! Like BOOM!! You’ll be invited to any concert you wish! Like… Future World Fes.” Monokuma glanced over at Sayo, Lisa, and Yukina. More specifically; Yukina, who swallowed nervously in response, “so get to killing!” 

Without another word, Monokuma disappeared, leaving the group to think about his motive. A kickstarter to her career… Becoming an idol was so hard, but with a bonus like that? Aya could be a famous idol faster than she could even think. All she had to do was…

Murder. 

In order to achieve her dreams of being an idol, she would have to take another human life. To cut a life short. Not to mention leave her bandmates and all her friends behind. Aya didn’t let herself think about it any longer. There was absolutely no way she was going to kill someone. 

“There’s no way we’re going to kill someone for something as petty as that!” Aya shouted. The whole group looked at her and Aya wondered what she’d said wrong. 

“Maruyama-san, although I am inclined to believe you, you shouldn’t be so hasty as to speak for everyone. This is a life or death situation and all of us are in bands. There are many here who would kill for instant-fame.” Sayo stood up, turning around and ignoring the look that Lisa shot her. Yukina crossed her arms as if she agreed and whispers rang out from the whole group. 

“Sayo-chan, what are you talking about?” Aya looked at Sayo who turned back around. Her eyes narrowed as she watched Aya grip Hina’s hand. 

“I have no intention of working with you all any longer. There a few people I trust and the first murder is bound to happen soon. I won’t be coming to breakfast. Goodbye.” Sayo turned on her heel and walked out of the room. Lisa and Yukina looked at each other before standing up and running after her with Lisa being the only one to wave goodbye to the group. 

“Onee-chan is smart! I’m sure she’ll be fine!” Hina squeezed Aya’s hand although Aya thought that behind Hina’s bright tone, she could detect something reminiscent of sadness. 

“As long as we’re happy and we smile, I’m sure everything will be okay!” Kokoro jumped onto the table, swinging her blonde hair over her shoulder. Misaki grabbed her hand and pulled her off the table. 

“Not the time, Kokoro.” Misaki whispered. The growing tension in the room was so thick that Aya could practically feel it. Everyone was slowly getting more and more afraid of each other and the trust they had previously built was fading. Aya scanned the room, watching as people left one by one. 

Everyone had formed their own small groups. No one trusted anyone but the people in their band and even then, that trust was small. Aya wondered why a single threat had been enough to tear apart the friendships they had spent years creating, but then Aya remembered that even she had been tempted by the idea of becoming a famous idol. 

If even her own thoughts weren’t safe from Monokuma’s motives, then who _could_ she trust?

* * *

Most of the girls had stayed in their room that day, Aya included. She’d played around with a couple of the dresses in her room and had even sung a few songs. She felt glad that the rooms were soundproof, as her screaming _’shuwa shuwa’_ at the top of her lungs wouldn’t make her very popular with the others. 

Aya sat on her bed, notepad in hand. Each room had come with their own notepad and Aya had taken to writing in hers every day; sort of like a diary. Each entry seemed to be more frantic as Aya wondered if anyone would actually try to kill someone. 

Aya heard a knock at her door and ran to open it. Aya pulled the door open, but found no one there. Instead of a person, a small slip of paper was sitting on the ground in front of her. She picked it up and closed her door again, unfolding the note. The printing on the note was delicate and neat as if each stroke was carefully planned out. 

_Maruyama-san,_

__

__

_Please meet me at the girl’s bathroom in half an hour. I’d like to speak to you about a matter regarding the Hikawa sisters. Thank you._

The note was missing a signature, but Aya could narrow down the list of people that it could be from. Yukina, Sayo, and Rinko were the only ones who called her by her last name. Sayo wouldn’t talk about Hina and herself as ‘the Hikawa sisters” and rather would have just referred to Hina by name. Yukina seemed like the most obvious suspect as both she and Aya were dating one of the Hikawa sisters, but Rinko was close to Sayo so she was a possibility as well. 

Aya wondered what the note was about. It could be a murder plan. Someone could be trying to kill her. But Aya didn’t really think that any of her friends would have the incentive to murder yet, so she thought it’d be okay to meet the mystery person. 

About half an hour later, Aya nearly forgot about her meeting with the mysterious note sender. The only thing that had reminded her was the note sitting on her bedside table. She carefully folded it and placed it inside of a drawer since she might end up needing it in the future. Pulling the door open, she practically skipped to the bathroom. 

Aya passed a couple of people along the way, but she didn’t end up seeing Hina anywhere. She headed to the bathroom, stopping just outside of the entrance. She took a deep breath and stepped inside, prepared to meet whoever had called her there. 

Time stopped when she stepped inside. 

It was a feeling that Aya didn’t think she’d ever experienced before in her life. Her heartbeat slowed as she stared at the person in front of her. She wasn’t sure if she was screaming or not. Maybe her mouth was open but no sound was coming out. There was only one thing she saw; the corpse of Minato Yukina, lead singer of Roselia. 

Yukina was laying on the floor, motionless. Her body was curled inwards and had been laid on the ground without a further thought. Aya stared at her, unsure if she was still even screaming. Several footsteps rang out from behind her. 

“Aya-chan, are you-“ Chisato stopped dead in her tracks, “Yukina-chan?” 

“Aya-chan.” Hina threw an arm around Aya’s shoulders, hugging her close. The three girls stared at the body as a nearby screen lit up. 

_Ding dong dong ding_

“A body has been discovered! After a certain amount of time, which you may use however you like, the **class trial** will begin!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> investigation is next chapter! ty for reading i love u <3


	3. Investigation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aya investigates the mysterious murder of Minato Yukina

Aya couldn’t think. More and more people entered the bathroom as Hina ran around to gather them up. There were screams and cries as the girls discovered Yukina’s body, but Aya couldn’t hear anything. There was a constant ringing in her ear as if it were just a dream. 

Aya thought that it might’ve been a dream. 

“YUKINA!” Lisa’s scream was the first thing to shock Aya out of her trance. She watched as Lisa ran into the bathroom, pulling Yukina’s body towards her own. Tears fell from Lisa’s eyes as she cradled Yukina. 

“Minato-san…” Sayo trailed off, the papers in her hand falling to the ground. She stared at Lisa holding Yukina’s corpse for a few seconds before running off, not speaking another word. 

“Lisa-chan, I need you to step away from Yukina-chan.” Chisato took a step towards Lisa. 

“Yukina, come back. I know you’re not dead. You’re just pretending. Haha, you totally got me, Yukina! You can wake up now!” Lisa ignored Chisato, her words coming out in small whispers. Chisato took another step towards Lisa, lowering her hand to reach for Yukina. Lisa snapped at her, pushing Chisato as far as she could, “Stay away from her!” 

“Kao-chan, little help?” Chisato motioned towards Lisa and Kaoru stepped forward. Lisa’s ramblings continued and Aya couldn’t tear her eyes away as Lisa begged and begged for Yukina to still be alive. 

“I apologize, Lisa.” Kaoru wrapped her hands around Lisa and pulled her away. Lisa scratched at Kaoru’s arms, but Kaoru held her tight. Lisa slowly calmed down, relaxing into Kaoru’s tight embrace. Kaoru carried her to a different room so that she wouldn’t have to see Yukina’s body anymore. 

“What’s a class trial? That doesn’t sound very boppin’ at all.” Hina mused aloud, staring at Yukina with some sort of strange amusement in her eyes. It wasn’t that she looked happy — it was the farthest thing from that, but it looked like there were more cogs moving in her mind than Aya’d ever seen before. Hina looked as if she was analyzing every single item around the room, her mind working in a strange way that Aya could never figure out. 

“You guys gotta figure out whodunnit!” Aya fell backwards at Monokuma’s sudden shout. Hina managed to catch her on time, carefully propping her back up. 

“What are you talking about?” Misaki took a step forward, looking as if she was trying to shield something from view. Aya remembered the announcement that had played earlier, stating that they had a certain amount of time before the class trial began. 

“Well, it wouldn’t be very fair if the blackened got to leave just like that! So you guys gotta figure out who it is! If you get it right, then the blackened will be punished!” Monokuma explained, trailing off into a laugh. 

“And if we get it wrong?” Aya only now noticed that Sayo was back in the room. Sayo was staring down Monokuma, her emerald eyes glinting with fury. 

“Then everyone except the blackened will be executed! Happy investigating!” Monokuma laughed before disappearing into thin air. 

“Why the fuck are you smiling.” Ran growled, eyes locking onto Kokoro. Misaki had been trying to hide Kokoro behind her. Kokoro’s eyes were brighter than the stars above and her usual smile never faded. 

“That’s because Yukina isn’t dead! We should all be happy that she got out of here!” Kokoro’s words were cut short by Sayo walking up to her. Sayo gripped the front of Kokoro’s shirt, pushing her against the wall. Misaki yelled for Sayo to let go, but Sayo leaned in close to Kokoro’s ear. 

“Listen here, I don’t know what kind of bullshit coping mechanism you use, but my girlfriend is dead and my other girlfriend is having a breakdown over it. No one here is happy. Get used to it because if you keep talking like this, you’re gonna be next and no one is going to want to help you.” Sayo let go of Kokoro, letting her stumble to the ground. Kokoro tilted her head, her smile not even fading for a second. 

“Hey, leave her alone.” Misaki stepped in front of Kokoro, trying to shield her from view. Despite a look on her face that showed that she didn’t really understand what was going on, Kokoro’s smile was still just as bright as it always was. 

“We should start investigating, shouldn’t we?” Sayo stepped away, dusting off her shirt. Aya looked at her and she could’ve sworn that she saw the glint of a tear in Sayo’s eyes. Hina furrowed her eyebrows, unsure of whether she should be supporting her sister or not. 

“Sayo-chan, I don’t mean to overstep, but are you going to be okay examining Yukina-chan’s body? You two were very close.” Aya wondered if her words were pushing the knife in Sayo’s gut a little deeper, but she thought that it was better to let Sayo know that it would be okay if she wasn’t comfortable examining her girlfriend’s dead body. Aya knew that if it was Hina or Chisato lying on the bathroom floor in front of her, she wouldn’t be able to see straight through her tears, let alone investigate their body. 

“I’ll be fine. I’d rather not be executed today.” Sayo pushed past the girls and entered the bathroom, crouching down next to Yukina. Aya opened her mouth to object, but Chisato placed a hand on her shoulder. 

“Sayo-chan is right. We cannot let our personal feelings interrupt our investigation.” Chisato whispered into Aya’s ear. She wiped a tear from Aya’s eyes and Aya hadn’t even realized she was crying until now. Aya took a deep breath and wiped at her eyes. She knew that Chisato and Sayo were right, so she steadied her breathing and stepped into the bathroom, prepared to investigate. 

Aya knelt down next to Yukina’s corpse, examining the body. She felt tears form in her eyes, but she tried to push through. Without a word, Sayo handed her a small black file. The title read _Monokuma File_. Aya opened it and scanned the writing, finding out that it was detailed information about Yukina’s death. 

_The victim was Minato Yukina, main vocalist of Roselia. The time of death was around 12 to 12:30. The cause of death was electrocution. In addition to that, there is a large bruise on Yukina’s right arm._

“The file isn’t lying. Her death was electrocution.” Sayo announced, trailing her fingers over Yukina’s body. 

“How can you tell?” Aya asked, shuffling over next to Sayo. Sayo moved away from her, but remained close to Yukina. 

“There are several burn marks on her body. I can confirm that they weren’t there yesterday and there’s a very small chance that they are unrelated to this murder. The location of the bruise also matches up.” Sayo lifted up Yukina arms, showing off her slightly burnt fingertips. Aya squinted her eyes and leaned in closer. The charred tips were barely noticeable, but they were there. 

Aya wondered how Sayo felt having to investigate her girlfriend’s dead body. 

_Maybe Sayo had been the one to kill her._

Aya shook her head. There was no way Sayo had killed Yukina. The two had been so close and they’d cared about each other more than most people Aya knew. There was absolutely no possible way that Sayo could have killed one of the only two people she would have trusted with her life. 

Aya rolled up her sleeves and took a closer look at Yukina. Yukina was curled up in the fetal position and upon closer inspection, the bruise on her right arm was larger than Aya had originally thought. Noticing something sticking out of Yukina’s front pocket, she reached down and grabbed it. 

“Oh my god.” Aya mumbled. In Aya’s hand was a sharp knife, the metal glinting off of the light. Yukina had a knife tucked inside of her pocket, yet there were no wounds on her body that even remotely resembled knife wounds. 

The knife looked like one of the kitchen knives that had been used by Lisa and Misaki to make their meals. The edge of the knife was slightly bent as if it had been rammed into a hard surface. Aya showed it to the others who gasped at the sight. Why would the killer plant a knife on Yukina’s body if they weren’t going to have any visible injuries on Yukina’s body. 

They probably hadn’t known about the Monokuma file, so perhaps they’d wanted to frame Yukina’s body as a stab wound rather than electrocution. However they’d done a pretty sloppy job at it since one good look at the body would prove that there were no external blood wounds. 

Aya examined the rest of Yukina’s body and found nothing worthwhile so she moved on to checking her surroundings. Above the door was a patch of wires hanging out of the ceiling. Aya assumed that they were what was used to electrocute Yukina. 

The wires were pretty long and hung low enough for Aya to reach, however the actual hole they were coming from was very high up. Aya stood at a decent 5’1” and was unable to touch it. The killer would have had to be taller than her to be able to yank the wires out so that they could electrocute Yukina with them, or they could have stood on something to boost them up. 

Running her hands along the door frame, Aya noticed a strange mark in the wall. It wasn’t very deep, but it looked like a slash from a weapon. Maybe Yukina hadn’t gone down without a struggle. 

Moving on to another area, Aya’s foot collided with a wet puddle. The liquid splashed onto her shoe and soaked it. Aya bent down and stuck a finger into the water, finding it to be just regular water. The puddle stretched from the back of the washroom all the way to Yukina’s corpse. 

The sink was full of water and had been plugged so it wouldn’t empty out. There were also a couple of scratches along the sink as if made by a sharp blade. Searching the room, Aya didn’t find anything else worthwhile and moved onto searching other areas of the school. 

She stepped out of the bathroom, finding a trail of water. She hadn’t noticed it when she’d first come to the washroom, but now it was blatantly obvious. Sitting in the puddle was a piece of wet cloth. It was white and extremely jagged at the edges as if it had been ripped right off. 

As Aya wandered the halls for a new place to investigate, she remembered the letter she’d received prior to Yukina’s murder. Heading to her room, she examined the letter she had received one more time and millions of thoughts filled her head. If she had gone to that bathroom would it have been her laying on the floor instead of Yukina? 

“Aya-chan! Come check out Yukina-chan’s room with me.” Hina’s voice was accompanied with a loud and relentless knocking at her door. Aya walked over to Hina who was staring at Aya with her head tilted. 

“How are we supposed to get into Yukina-chan’s room?” Aya asked, biting at her nails. Hina shot her a look, but Aya ignored it. There was literally a murder, Aya thought she had bigger issues than uneven nails. 

“Monokuma told me that the rooms of dead people stay unlocked.” Hina explained as she led Aya towards Yukina’s room. It was situated next to Kasumi and Lisa, only a room down from Aya’s. Hina gripped the doorknob and stepped inside, motioning for Aya to follow her. Aya took a step inside and then hesitated. 

It felt strange to enter Yukina’s room without her permission. Even though Yukina was dead, it felt like an invasion of privacy. Like Yukina wouldn’t want Aya inside of her room. 

And then it hit Aya. Like it _really_ hit her. 

Yukina was gone. She was dead. Aya would never hear her powerful voice on a stage in front of thousands of people. Aya would never watch one of Roselia’s concerts and wish it was her up on that stage. She wouldn’t listen to Yukina’s suggestions at a CiRCLE concert or watch Yukina walk away with such confidence. 

She had been murdered. Her life had been cut short by one of her friends and now she had to figure out who it was. 

“Look at this.” Hina handed Aya what looked like a piece of paper without another word. Aya turned it over and her heart stopped beating at the sight of the chart. Ice ran down her veins as her eyes darted across the paper. 

It was a list of all the girls who had been trapped together, complete with pictures. The entirety of Roselia had extremely prominent X’s drawn over them. Most other people had slightly thinner X’s overtop. Aya’s picture, however, had a large red circle surrounding it. 

Aya wondered what that circle was meant to signify. Perhaps Yukina had been the one to send that note after all. 

“I’m getting bored! Time to start the class trial! Please head to the large red door by the gym.” Monokuma’s distinct voice rang out from the speakers. Aya looked over to Hina who nodded in response. 

“Let’s go.” Hina held out her hand and Aya gripped it, intertwining their fingers. 

Aya truly hoped that it would all be okay again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lmao who u think the murderer is


	4. Class Trial part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aya tried to find out who killed Yukina.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> class trial will be divided into like,,, two or three parts maybe?? so this is definitely not the end of the class trial cause i dont think the murderer is pretty obvious yet lol (then again i might just be dumb who knows)

“Who are we waiting for?” the group had been waiting for nearly five minutes and most had become restless. Aya stood against a wall, picking at her nails as they waited for Kaoru and Lisa who were the only two who hadn’t shown up. 

As if on cue, Kaoru burst through the door, Lisa practically hanging off her arm. The two were both wearing dark purple jackets that seemingly matched with each other. Aya had noticed Kaoru wearing the jacket earlier and she’d pointed it out as odd since Kaoru nearly never wore a jacket even in the winter, instead opting for long sleeve t-shirts. Lisa definitely hadn’t been previously wearing a jacket. 

“Apologies, kittens! Lisa was cold so I offered to grab her a jacket from my room.” Kaoru walked towards Chisato, Lisa still hanging off her arm. 

“Couldn’t you have just given her yours? You never get cold anyways.” Chisato tilted her head, smiling up at Kaoru with a smile that Aya noticed really only came out around Kaoru. 

“Ah would you rather I freeze in this barren tundra?” Kaoru squeezed Lisa’s hand. Lisa didn’t respond to any conversation and remained with her eyes fixated on the floor. Aya couldn’t imagine how Lisa must have felt. 

If it had been Hina laying on that bathroom floor…

Aya wouldn’t let herself think about it. She felt thankful that it wasn’t Hina who was dead, but then immediately felt guilty. She shouldn’t have been thankful in any way when it came to the death of one of her friends. 

Aya glanced over at Sayo while Kaoru and Chisato continued to poke fun at each other. Sayo was pacing back and forth, staring at a small notebook in her hands. Aya’s eyes wandered between Lisa and Sayo, noting just how different some people grieved. Lisa seemed unable to focus, not having spoken a single word since the realization that Yukina was dead. Meanwhile, Sayo made herself busy, not allowing herself to be idle for even a moment. 

Aya wondered if either of them would actually be any help during the class trial. Lisa seemed too sad to do anything while even though Aya usually had high faith in Sayo, she wasn’t sure if the information Sayo had achieved would be credible. Then Aya remembered who Sayo was. She was Hikawa Sayo and she was a force to be reckoned with. There was absolutely no way that Sayo would be deadweight in this class trial. 

“Let’s finally get started! I can’t wait!” Monokuma announced, motioning towards a large elevator. The whole group stepped inside, staring at each other. Aya’s eyes darted around the group. There were only 15 of them now that Yukina was dead. It felt strange, looking around the room and seeing everyone else without Yukina. 

It wasn’t like every single person that Aya knew was there; even Maya and Eve from her own band weren’t there, but seeing Sayo and Lisa without Yukina wasn’t normal. They were always together. They were a trio similar to that of Chisato, Hina, and Aya herself. Aya didn’t think she could get used to it yet, but eventually she would have to get over the fact that Yukina wasn’t with them anymore and Aya wasn’t sure how she was supposed to do it. 

“You're gonna be fine, Aya-chan! We’ll figure it out! I believe in us.” Hina leaned over to Aya’s ear, whispering softly so that no one around would be able to hear. Aya let out a small sigh of relief, happy that Hina could always tell exactly what was wrong. Despite Hina’s lack of understanding social cues, she somehow managed to read Aya pretty well. 

“Thanks Hina-chan.” Aya whispered back, unable to say anything else. The elevator slowed to a stop and the group stepped out, finding themselves in the middle of what looked to be a courtroom. There was a large circle of sixteen stands, one for each student. Monokuma instructed the group to take their places and Aya found herself next to Lisa and Arisa, just like her room. 

“What the fuck is this?” those were the first words that Aya had heard Lisa speak since Lisa had seen Yukina’s body. Next to Lisa was an empty stand, save for a picture of Yukina with a large red ‘X’ drawn over her face. 

“Well it wouldn’t be fair to Yukina to exclude her just because she’s dead! I thought you guys were friends!” Monokuma took his place at a seat higher than the girls. He stared them down, head tilted as if he was completely innocent of any crime. 

“You disgust me.” Sayo took her place, avoiding eye contact with Hina who was standing next to her. Monokuma laughed and didn’t respond to her remark, instead relaying the rules of the class trial. It was pretty basic with the only rules being that if the killer was found out, they would be executed and if the killer got away with it, everyone else would be executed.

Aya took a look around her, letting out a small sigh as she surveyed everyone standing around her. Kasumi, Arisa, Moca, Ran, Tomoe, Lisa, Sayo, Ako, Rinko, Hina, Chisato, Kaoru, Kokoro, and Misaki. By the end of the trial there would either be 14 or 1 of them left. 

It was a deadly class trial where both outcomes would leave Aya with the bitter taste of despair. The only thing she could do was do her best to figure out who the murderer was and cut her losses. She felt guilty for basically trying to sentence one of her friends to death, but as much as she hated to admit it; Aya wanted to live. Aya wanted to escape this goddamned school with Hina and Chisato. 

“Let the class trial begin!”

* * *

“Time to figure out who killed Minato Yukina, the vocalist of Roselia!” Monokuma’s voice echoed throughout the courtroom. Aya looked at Hina who gave her a small thumbs up to try and reassure her. 

“Does everyone agree on the cause of death?” to Aya’s surprise, Sayo was the first one to speak up. Sayo leaned forwards as if waiting for someone to disagree with her. 

“You want to say electrocution, yeah? What if that Monokuma File was lying.” Ran ran a hand through her hair, staring Sayo dead in the eyes. Sayo didn’t flinch at Ran’s words and instead let out a small sigh. 

“I verified the cause of death myself. There were burn marks very similar to electrocution.” Sayo explained, hands digging into the side of her stand. 

“And how do we know you didn’t kill Minato-san and are just lying about it?” Ran leaned forwards, eyebrows raised as she waited for Sayo to rebut her claims. 

“I can vouch for Sayo-chan. There were definitely burn marks on Yukina-chan.” Aya piped up, leaning backwards when all eyes suddenly turned towards her. She felt a chill run down her spine at the glare that Ran shot her, but Aya felt a small sense of comfort when she thought that she’d spotted the glimpse of a smile on Sayo’s face. 

“How do we know you and Sayo-san aren’t in on this together? You could be lying for each other.” Ran’s words were something that Aya hadn’t considered. What if there was an accomplice to the murder? What happened then? 

“Maruyama-san and I are definitely _not_ in on this together. Frankly, I’m rather fucking pissed at the idea that you think I would murder my own girlfriend with the help of my sister’s girlfriend!” Sayo’s voice steadily rose louder and louder as Ran looked at Moca for support. 

“Sayo-san is right, that’d be pretty fucked up.” Moca shrugged as Ran shot her another glare. Hina raised a hand to her face, playing with a strand of her hair. Aya assumed that Hina was thinking of something that Aya probably wouldn’t understand. 

“Hey Monokuma, what happens if there is an accomplice?” Hina tilted her head as she waited for Monokuma's response. Aya had been wondering about the very same question that Hina has just asked. Would they both get to leave the school? 

“Only the one who does the actual killing gets to leave the school!” Monokuma sat back on his chair, smiling at the group as they all stared at each other for a few moments. 

“So there isn’t really any benefit to being an accomplice.” Chisato pointed out, looking just as poised and confident as she always did. Aya wondered just how Chisato could never break from her calm exterior no matter how much she was panicking on the inside. It was a trait that Aya envied; one she didn’t think she’d ever be able to pick up. 

“Doesn’t erase the possibility.” Ran huffed even though she knew that Sayo wasn’t listening anymore. Ran rolled her eyes and looked back and forth from Tomoe and Moca, as if waiting for their support. 

“So we should clear up alibis for the time that Yukina-chan died, yeah?” Hina rolled onto the balls of her feet, slightly swaying back and forth as she spoke. 

“It was around 12:00, right?” Misaki raised a hand to her face, biting at her nails. Sayo nodded and Misaki turned to Kokoro, “Kokoro and I were together all day yesterday.” 

“Yup! I didn’t leave Misaki the whole time!” Kokoro shouted, a smile still plastered on her face. Aya wondered how Kokoro could manage to smile in a situation like this. 

“Alright so you two have an alibi, anyone else?” Sayo turned to the group, waiting for people to shout out where they had been. 

“I had been residing in my room as it has a fleeting collection of wigs and costumes. Alas, that means that no one can vouch for my innocence.” Kaoru was just as loud as ever, practically leaning over her stand. 

“I was with Hina-chan.” Chisato looked over at Kaoru and Kaoru smiled at her. Chisato didn’t return the gesture. 

“Rin-rin and I were together!” Ako said, eyes wildly whipping across the room. 

“I was alone.” Ran muttered, not offering any further explanation. 

“Me too.” Tomoe added as Moca nodded to signify the same. 

“I spent the day singing in my room.” Aya trailed off into a nervous giggle, glad that no one found it strange that Aya had basically performed an entire concert by herself. 

“Arisa and I were together but we split up about 15 minutes before 12:00.” Kasumi pointed out. 

“I was alone in my room as well. Imai-san, you’re the only one who hasn’t answered.” Sayo turned to look at Lisa, the one person in the world left that Sayo has entrusted her heart to. Aya wasn’t sure what Sayo would do if Lisa ended up being the murderer. Aya tried to push those thoughts away, deciding that speculation on improbable outcomes was useless. 

“I was with Yukina the whole day. We split up only ten minutes before 12. If I had only stayed with her for more than 10 minutes.” Lisa gripped the edge of the dark purple jacket that Kaoru had given her. From how tight her grip was, Aya was surprised that Lisa didn’t rip a piece of that jacket clean off. 

“Don’t blame yourself. Please, Imai-san, it isn’t your fault.” Sayo’s arm twitched as if she wanted to run towards Lisa and hug her, but she remained still in her place. 

“So that leaves Kaoru-kun, Ran-chan, Tomoe-chan, Moca-chan, Aya-chan, Lisachii, Kasumi-chan, Arisa-chan, and onee-chan as the ones without alibis.” Hina took a deep breath after listing all of the names, still smiling as she spoke. 

“I mean, there could still be accomplices so everyone is suspicious. Who’s to say that you and Chisato-san didn’t go out and stab Minato-san together?” Ran huffed, blowing her red strand of hair out of her face. Chisato opened her mouth to argue but Monokuma interrupted her. 

“Will you shut up about the accomplices? You’re making my head hurt!” Monokuma whined, banging one his chair as if having a temper tantrum. 

“So I assume there are no accomplices in this case?” Sayo raised an eyebrow and Monokuma looked her, eyes widening. 

“Fuck. Whatever, yeah yeah, there are no accomplices!” Monokuma rolled his eyes and then looked away, waiting for the debate to continue. 

“So those with an alibi aren’t suspects!” Hina tilted back and forth, gripping the edge of her stand as she rolled onto the balls of her feet. 

“How do we whittle it down from here? We have no clues as to who it is.” Arisa crossed her arms, speaking up for the first time since the trial started. Aya opened her mouth to mention something that she’d noticed, but quickly shut it. Her information probably wasn’t as useful as what Hina or Sayo has figured out. It didn’t really matter in the long run. 

“Aya-chan, you shouldn’t worry about your info being useless! Tell us what you figured out!” Aya was a bit taken aback by how spot on Hina’s observation was. Aya guessed that Hina had gotten pretty used to Aya’s many insecurities at this point. 

“Well, um, since Yukina-chan died by electrocution, I think the murder weapon was some wires near the top of the bathroom. I tried to reach them and I couldn’t do it so the killer has to be someone over 5’1”. I think 5’2” might be the cut off?” Aya stumbled over her words, trying to explain her thoughts in a way that made sense. 

“That’s a good observation, Maruyama-san. Who here is over 5’1”?” Sayo asked the group, waiting for hands to go up. Tomoe and Kaoru raised their hands, nodding silently to the others. 

“Hey, what about yourself Sayo-san. You’re taller than Aya-san.” Tomoe pointed out, eyebrows furrowed when she didn’t see Sayo’s hand raised. 

“Of course I’m including myself. Don’t be stupid.” Sayo scoffed, raising her eyebrows at Tomoe’s remark. 

“Is it really just between the three of them?” Kasumi asked, fiddling with a strand of hair that had fallen over her shoulder, “I dunno, it doesn’t seem right.” 

“The killer could’ve used a stepstool or something.” Arisa shrugged. A couple of people nodded at her remark, but Aya looked at her with furrowed eyebrows. 

“I didn’t find any stepstools near the scene of the crime.” Aya muttered, earning a small glare from Tomoe. 

“Don’t you think that someone capable of murder would be smart enough to hide a stepstool? What if you’re the murderer and you’re trying to convince us that it has to be me, Sayo-san, or Seta-senpai.” Tomoe’s voice slowly rose until it reached a yell. 

“Tomoe-chan, please lower your voice!” Kaoru tried to calm down Tomoe, but Tomoe turned towards her with a growl on her face. 

“I’m not going to be calm when I’m being accused of fucking murder. Speaking of, how the hell are you so calm?” Tomoe spat, throwing her red hair over her shoulder. 

“We never said it was you! We’re just trying to clear up the facts.” Hina rushed to try and calm down Tomoe as well, knowing that if everyone started yelling they would end up getting nowhere. Tomoe didn’t listen to Hina and continued yelling about her defenses. 

Then a scream pierced the air, echoing throughout the room. Everyone immediately stopped talking and turned towards Lisa whom the scream had come from. Lisa took a heavy breath and looked across the room, staring each and every girl dead in the eyes. 

“It was me. I killed Yukina.”


	5. Class Trial part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The class trial continues.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello i have now started school so i will never write again.  
> (that is a joke yes i will still be writing just not as much)
> 
> also lisa basically wrote this chapter for me i love her so much if she's in the comments pls tell her u love her

“Imai-san?” Sayo froze, unable to say anything but that one small word. Aya gripped the edge of her stand, all previous thoughts gone. Lisa had just confessed to murdering Yukina. Aya thought she was gonna be sick. 

“I did it. I walked into that bathroom, yanked the wires down, and killed her.” Lisa’s voice was quiet; barely above a whisper, yet no one else spoke. Everyone seemed to be too entranced by Lisa’s confession to even say a single word. 

“Aren’t you the same height as Aya-chan?” Hina was the first one to speak up since Lisa’s confession. It had seemed strange to Aya as well — Lisa was around 5’1”, so how would she have reached the wires? 

“I used a stepstool. It was easy.” Lisa was direct with her words, as if using any excess words would be a waste of her time. 

“No, it wasn’t you.” Sayo turned towards Lisa, a look of sheer panic painted across her face. Aya didn’t think that she’d ever seen Sayo look so afraid. The look on Sayo’s face currently rivaled the one that had appeared when they’d discovered Yukina’s corpse for the first time. 

“Stop defending me, Sayo. It’s my fault.” Lisa bit her lip as she ran a hand through her brown hair. Everyone in the room was staring at her. Aya wouldn’t even allow herself to blink, afraid that with just one second she’d miss so much. 

“So we can vote and get this over with, yeah?” Tomoe bounced up and down, looking just a little bit _too_ happy at the fact that the blame had shifted away from her. 

“Ah, I don’t believe we should do that! I have a fleeting feeling that our lovely Lisa is not the killer.” Kaoru chuckled nervously, waiting for someone to agree with her. Sayo’s head whipped frantically across the room, no doubt trying to process the situation. 

“How the fuck do you know that?” Ran crossed her arms, clearly displeased with the way the trial was going. 

“I don’t think it’s Lisa-chan either.” Aya fiddled with her hair, unable to look a single person in the eyes. Lisa turned to look at Aya, eyes wide. 

“Why won’t you all just vote for me already? I’m the killer! Vote for me!” Lisa shouted, kneeling down into a tight ball. She curled herself up, slightly rocking back and forth. Sayo rushed out of her podium and sat down next to Lisa, gently stroking her hair. 

“It wasn’t you, was it?” Sayo whispered, voice barely audible to the others in the courtroom. Lisa shook her head softly and Sayo leaned in even closer, “there were no step stools nearby. None at all, right? I checked.” 

“I am so confused.” Moca muttered, eyebrows furrowed as she looked back and forth from Ran and Lisa. 

“Lisachii isn’t the killer and I can prove it.” Hina spoke up, staring down Lisa with something intense behind her glare. Aya wasn’t really sure what to make of it. She’d never seen Hina so… un-hinalike. She didn’t look particularly angry or sad, she was just missing that strange faraway look in her eyes that marked her as _Hina_. 

“If Lisa-san isn’t the killer then why the hell would she confess to it?” Tomoe bit at her nails, red hair swaying behind her as she moved back and forth on the balls of her feet. Aya seemed to share that constant inability to stay still with Tomoe. 

“I think Lisachii can tell you herself.” Hina turned towards Lisa, waiting for her to respond. Lisa’s eyebrows furrowed and Aya only now noticed the crystal tears in Lisa’s eyes. 

“I don’t want to.” Lisa muttered, crossing her arms as Sayo walked back to her own stand. Sayo bit her lip as if wanting to stay next to Lisa, but Monokuma warned her not to leave her spot again. Apparently, he was strict on the rules. 

“Imai-san, you can tell me, right? It’s okay.” Sayo whispered softly, eyes missing every little bit of the fire that made her _Sayo_. Aya recognized that similarity between Hina and Sayo. Despite being polar opposites, they were still twins and they shared so many small similarities. 

“I don’t think it’s fair that Yukina has to die and we all get to live.” Lisa brushed a strand of hair from her face. Aya froze. Lisa wiped the tears from her eyes and stared at the group. 

“What?” Aya could only mutter a small word as the realization of what Lisa had just admitted to sunk in. Lisa had tried to kill all of them except for the one person who had killed Yukina. It seemed _unreal_. If Lisa hadn’t admitted that she wasn’t the killer then they’d all be dead right now. 

“I couldn’t even go through with it though. I’m sorry. I’m so _fucking sorry_. I just tried to kill all of you. This probably isn’t what Yukina would’ve wanted.” Lisa broke off into a strained giggle, trying to make light of their situation. 

“I’m glad you’re laughing!” Kokoro smiled and Misaki looked at her with furrowed eyebrows, as if encouraging her to stop talking. Ran bit her lip to stop herself from yelling at Kokoro yet again. Kokoro’s comment sent a shiver down Aya’s spine, but she wasn’t focused on that. The only thing she could think about was the fact that Lisa had just tried to kill them all and with no remorse whatsoever. 

“Hina, what did you say about having proof?” Sayo waited for a response from Hina who stared at the former with bright eyes. 

“Well, Yukina-chan tried to kill Aya-chan.”

* * *

“What?” Aya’s voice froze at Hina’s words. There was no way that Yukina would have tried to kill her, right? Aya hadn’t really considered the two ‘friends’, but they were at least on good terms. 

“What are you talking about, Hina?” Sayo raised her eyebrows as Hina tilted her head as if she’d said nothing wrong. Hina dug around in her pockets and pulled out a large piece of paper. Hina slowly unfolded it and Aya felt her blood run cold at the sight of it. She and Hina had discovered it in Yukina’s room less than an hour ago. 

Aya’s face was circled in bright red with everyone else on the paper having an ‘X’ overtop of their picture. Sayo glared at the paper, eyes scanning over every inch. 

“She tried to kill me?” Aya bit at her nails and for once, Chisato was too focused on other matters to even mention it. Chisato’s face was blank, not a speck of emotion anywhere. Aya supposed that Chisato was an actress after all, hiding her emotions should’ve been an easy task for her. Aya hated to admit, however, that Chisato’s lack of concern for Aya’s supposed ‘attempted murder’ was a little bit disheartening. 

“So… that means Aya-san was supposed to be killed instead of Minato-san?” Moca asked bluntly, bringing everyone’s gaze to herself. Aya felt as if she knew where Moca’s sentence was going, yet she couldn’t help but feel shocked at the next words, “Doesn’t that make her a little suspicious?”

“How so?” Arisa asked, finally speaking up. Aya, however, was stunned into silence. _Did they really believe it was her? That she could be so heartless and end Yukina’s life? But the fact that they were here meant one of them_ did _do it. But-_ She stopped. She couldn’t overthink now. Now was a time to try and bring justice to Yukina’s murder. Aya wouldn’t let her personal feelings cloud her judgment as they almost _always_ did. 

“Maybe she found out somehow and killed Minato-san instead.” Moca stared at Aya with a questioning gaze, almost asking Aya to disprove her. Aya wasn’t sure how to defend herself. She had no alibi, no evidence to prove that it wasn’t her. Aya knew that she wasn’t the killer, but she had no way of proving her innocence. 

Aya remembered the note she had received earlier and it felt like lead weighing down on her pocket. A letter from Yukina who had supposedly attempted to murder her asking to meet up. Showing the rest of the girls would only incriminate Aya further, but hiding it would be untruthful. 

_Maruyama-san,_

_Please meet me at the girl’s bathroom in half an hour. I’d like to speak to you about a matter regarding the Hikawa sisters. Thank you._

Aya’s hands dug their way into her pocket, feeling the paper crumple against her side, and pulled it out. She unfolded the note and read it out loud. 

“I got this note about half an hour before we found Yukina-chan’s body. It’s not signed, but I’m pretty sure it’s from her.” Aya held out the note and showed it off to the group. Sayo reached out to inspect it and Aya handed it to her. 

“This is Minato-san’s handwriting.” Sayo read over the note for a few seconds longer than she would’ve had to. Perhaps she was thinking about how that note was probably the last thing that Yukina had ever written down. Perhaps Sayo felt a strange attachment to a flimsy piece of paper for the sole reason of a couple black letters she could recognize. 

“Wait, I’m confused. Does that mean Aya-senpai is the killer?” Kasumi shook her head, trying to focus on the situation at hand. Kasumi looked back and forth at Aya and Arisa, the former for more obvious reasons and the latter for emotional support. Arisa didn’t meet her eyes, instead staring down at the floor so she wouldn’t have to make eye contact with anyone in the room. 

“No! I didn’t kill her! I never went to meet up with Yukina-chan!” Aya leaned forward, hands gripping onto the wooden stand. Her nails dug into the wood and Aya tried to calm her breathing. 

“Where’s your proof?” Tomoe was unable to sit still, either from excitement, fear, or maybe a mix of both. She was bouncing up and down on her heels, fidgeting with everything in sight. It would’ve been almost comical if Aya wasn’t being accused of murder.

“I don’t have any. I was alone at that time...” Aya trailed off, fingers shaking as Sayo finally handed back the note. Aya read it over again, focusing on the dips and curves of each letter, avoiding the stare of everyone else in the room.

“We’ve figured it out then. We can vote and get out of here.” Ran looked over at Moca who shot Ran a small smile. Aya fidgeted wildly with her hands as she tried to think of how to crawl herself out of the hole she’d dug for herself. 

She needed help. She needed Hina to tell Aya how to defend herself or Sayo to bring up some evidence that could prove Aya’s innocence. She was stuck. She felt almost… helpless. She couldn’t even figure out how to clear herself of a crime that she obviously hadn’t committed. 

“Hold on a sec!” Ako blurted out, nearly falling out of her podium. When all eyes turned towards her, she shrunk back for a second, looking to Rinko for help. Rinko leaned over and the two whispered for a few seconds. 

The dead silence as the two girls discussed quietly didn’t help Aya’s nerves. She seemed to be doing absolutely every nervous tick she could think of. Time moved slower than she thought it ever could. After a moment, the two girls finally stopped whispering. 

“Monokuma, we have a question.” Ako turned to Monokuma, who sat up in excitement at finally being part of the conversation. 

“Finally! You guys were leaving me out there!” The bear exclaimed, leaning forward. Ako hesitated, looking back at Rinko for support, who nodded at her in reassurance. Taking a breath, Ako faced the black and white bear again.

“The body announcement only occurs after three people, who aren’t the killers, discover the body. Is that correct?” 

Monokuma tilted his head side to side, thinking. _Was this a question that really needed thinking…_

“Hmmm.” He gave a heavy sigh. “Yes, the body announcement only happens when three people stumble across the body! Naturally the killer doesn’t count. Man, I can’t believe you dragged that out of me.”

Aya’s eyes widened at the information. Was Rinko actually proving Aya’s innocence? It felt a little unreal. Aya hadn’t even needed to do anything and she’d already been crossed off the list of possible suspects because of Ako and Rinko’s help. Aya felt slightly guilty for being so relieved. The case was far from over and just because Aya herself was clear, didn’t mean that everyone else was. 

“S-so, that proves that Maruyama-san isn’t the killer, right?” Rinko said, staring at her hands. She must have been nervous to speak up, asking Ako to talk for her instead.

“That’s right. Hina-chan, Aya-chan, and I were the ones who found Yukina-chan and then the announcement went off. It couldn’t have been us.” Chisato said. Tomoe glanced at Chisato before sinking back on her heels. 

“We did it Rinrin!” Ako exclaimed. Rinko smiled softly at her, but that only meant we were back to square one.

“This is so confusing.” Misaki muttered, running a hand through her hair as the group continued to discuss. Aya felt as if the conversation had run in a circle. Sure, they’d proven Aya’s innocence, but Aya had already known that she wasn’t the murderer so what help was it to her? 

Ran rolled her eyes. “We’re getting off track. Who is the killer then, if it isn’t you, Aya-san.” 

“We’re trying to figure that out, Mitake-san.” Sayo said calmly, looking back at her notes. Ran scoffed, leaning back into her podium. 

“Then, let’s talk about how Yukina died, shall we?” Kaoru asked, gesturing in the air with her hands. Aya never really understood Kaoru’s movements, but now wasn’t the time to dwell on it.

“Wasn’t she killed using the knife?” Kokoro suddenly questioned. Aya had no idea how the girl could ask that with a smile on her face. It looked almost forced, but Aya couldn’t really tell. She didn’t know her well enough after all.

“No, that’s wrong!” Aya blurted out. Kokoro turned to look at her and Aya shrunk back. She wasn’t entirely sure why she’d said that, but it had just seemed like the right thing to say in the moment, “Yukina-chan died of electrocution.”

“You must have some cogs loose in your head because we all saw how there weren’t any knife wounds on her body.” Ran scowled at Kokoro, clearly upset at her for the third time. Misaki’s mouth pressed into a thin line, anxious at Ran glaring so ominously at Kokoro. 

“Then why was it bent so strangely?” Kokoro asked, tilting her head. Aya thought about that. It _was_ weird how bent the knife was, considering how it wasn’t used on the victim’s body at all. 

“Is that really important? We know how she died, it was by electrocution.” Kasumi said. “It’s stated in the Monokuma File.” She tapped on it with her finger, leaning forward onto her podium’s ledge. 

“Yukina d-died by the wires being pulled into the puddle. We were talking about how the culprit could only reach the wires if they were taller than 5”1, since there was nothing to use as a stepstool.” Lisa added quietly. Then something flashed through Aya’s mind as she thought about what Kokoro and Lisa said. A mark in the wall under the long wires, which laid way too high for her to reach. The knife. The _bent_ knife. 

“What if…” Aya started slowly, trying to put together the pieces in her mind, “What if the killer used the _knife_ as a step ladder?” She looked up at the group, looking for their reactions.

“What do you mean by that, kitten?” Kaoru looked confused, but surprised mainly. Most of them looked shocked to be honest. It was to be expected of course, it was hardly a possibility until she thought of it. 

“I mean, what if the killer used the knife to stab the wall and then stood on that to pull the wires down?” Aya elaborated. As she said it aloud, it started to make more sense why the knife was bent and why there was a suspicious mark on the door frame. It seemed to align perfectly with the way that the murder was set up and it would explain the knife on Yukina’s body. 

“No, I don’t think so.” Sayo pressed her hands together, mouth in a tight frown as she tried to figure out what was going on. Her eyes glided towards the ceiling, slowly falling over Lisa before Sayo looked away. There was a small hitch in Lisa’s stance as she realized that Sayo, her _girlfriend_ , couldn’t even look her straight in the eyes. 

“Why not?” Aya scrunched her eyebrows together as she spoke. She’d thought that her idea had been good, yet there was Sayo, prepared to disprove anything that she said. It was almost strange how hostile Sayo was even though they were all leading to the same goal. 

“If Minato-san was planning a murder, then shouldn’t she have had a weapon on her? The knife most likely belonged to her.” Sayo finished, waiting for any rebuttals against her claim. Aya bit her lip, almost embarrassed at the fact that the idea she had been so confident in was proven to be false in just a few seconds. 

“So why’s it bent then?” Arisa asked, fidgeting with one of her blond pigtails. Aya had been wondering the same thing. She’d thought that her theory had matched up perfectly, from the bent knife to the slash in the wall, but if Yukina had the knife first, then how had it become bent?

“I think Hina has the same idea as me.” Sayo turned to her sister, who was staring at the group with wide eyes. Hina’s head was tilted and she was eerily quiet, as if there was more going on inside of her brain than Aya would ever begin to understand. 

“So Yukina-chan wanted to kill Aya-chan, right? I think it went down like this; the killer entered the washroom and Yukina-chan rushed them, thinking that they were Aya-chan. The killer dodged and Yukina-chan hit the wall, but she had to have pulled the knife out and kept it with her since the killer didn’t dispose of it.” Hina explained, earning a stunned silence from the group. Sayo let out something akin to a sound of approval and Hina looked at her with almost a smile on her face. 

“Hina’s right. The killer probably felt too disgusted to dig through Minato-san’s corpse to find the knife, so that’s why we found the knife on her. If the killer used the knife, there’s no way they wouldn’t have thrown out the knife to get rid of the proof.” Sayo finished and Aya thought that Sayo and Hina were pretty much carrying the trial. Aya picked at her nails as she realized that she really hadn’t done much to help. 

“So we’re back to the killer being over 5’1”? We’ve basically just gone around in a circle.” Ran fiddled with her choker, flipping the lock accessory back and forth.

“W-we haven’t um… we haven’t gone in a circle.” Rinko fiddled with her hair, looking to Ako for reassurance. The shorter girl smiled a toothy grin and Rinko let out a soft sigh before continuing, “I was thinking that… Yukina-san probably filled the sink with water so she could wash the blood off after she’d killed someone. Since there was water all over the floor, the killer probably came before Yukina-san had expected them so she didn’t turn off the water.” 

“I see what you’re saying, Minato-san was caught off-guard. And then?” Sayo looked up at Rinko, in a curious way from what Aya could tell, but Rinko’s eyes shifted away from the attention.

“I-I guess. Yukina-san was probably knocked out then.” Rinko said, shifting on her feet. 

“But that doesn’t explain why the knife was clearly used. Yukina-senpai must’ve tried to attack the culprit or something.” Arisa stated, hands at her hips. 

“So this is what I’m getting. The killer entered, Yukina-chan attacked them thinking that they were Aya-chan, left the water on, hit the wall, and then was electrocuted.” Chisato hadn’t spoken for a while, her face frozen in a determined stare. Aya admired Chisato’s ability to stay calm in every situation. 

“And that’s where we have the killer completely figured out!” Hina and Sayo shared a look, the two girls seemingly being the only two who had any clue what was going on. 

“What are you talking about?” Ran bit the inside of her mouth, gaze switching between Hina and Sayo. 

“I’m sure Maruyama-san knows what we’re talking about?” Sayo’s eyes landed on Aya who froze at her words. 

“I do?” Aya asked, eyes widening as she realized she really didn’t know what was going on. Sayo and Hina had claimed that Aya knew, but Aya picked at her nails as she tried to figure out what they were referring to. 

All of the evidence she had found flashed through her brain. They’d discussed every little bit of it, right? There was nothing left. The knife, the sink, the mysterious list in Yukina’s room, the cloth at the bathroom door, the wires-

 _The cloth._

The piece of white cloth that had been strewn in a puddle of water outside of the bathroom. Aya wasn’t sure how she hadn’t remembered it before. It had probably been torn off during the fight with Yukina. 

“When Yukina-chan attacked the killer, the knife must’ve caught their sleeve which caused a piece of white cloth to rip off.” Aya explained, pausing between each word as she tried to articulate her thoughts in a way that made sense. Hina gave her a small nod and Aya let out a sigh of relief. 

“Exactly. So,” Sayo paused, surveying the room one final time, “why don’t you take off your jacket, Seta Kaoru.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> part 3 will probably be the last part of the trial


	6. Class Trial part 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The class trial comes to an ends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay guys lied on the last chapter lisa helped me write this really fast actually guys i love lisa <333

“Wh-what do you mean Sayo?” Kaoru asked, stuttering. Kaoru actually _stuttered_. It was probably the first time Aya had heard the girl be this uncomposed. “I put on this jacket when practicing my acting in my room and simply forgot to take it off! It’s neither suspicious nor out of the ordinary.”

“Then it shouldn’t be a problem taking it off, would it Seta-san?” Sayo crossed her arms, not moving her eyes off of the purple haired girl. Aya was in disbelief. Could the killer _really_ be Kaoru? It felt surreal. 

Kaoru fell silent. Only seconds had passed until someone made a move, but it felt like hours as time stood still. Slowly, Kaoru looked down and started to unzip her jacket. Aya felt as if she couldn’t breathe, unconsciously holding her breath as Kaoru slipped off the jacket’s sleeves from her arms, dropping it next to her. 

And there, on Kaoru’s left wrist, was the torn piece of clothing from her long sleeved white shirt. She stood there, staring at the ground, ashamed probably, as the group stared in unbelievable silence.

What was there to say? There it was, the indisputable proof, that Kaoru was the one who ended Yukina’s life. The one who _murdered_ Yukina. Aya could feel her hands shaking before a loud scream tore through the courtroom. 

“YOU. YOU KILLED HER.” Aya turned to the side, seeing Lisa grasp her podium tightly with white fists, glaring at Kaoru with all her anger. No one had ever seen Lisa so furious. It was… _terrifying_. A scream of total anguish and hurt. “YOU _MURDERED_ YUKINA.”

“Lisa…” Kaoru tried to begin, reaching her hand out in Lisa’s direction.

“STOP. DON’T. I don’t want excuses.” Lisa shook her head, tears flowing down her face. It was painful to watch such a sight between her friends, _if she could even call them that at this point_. Kaoru was a murderer. Someone who killed her other friend. “Why… Why did you do it.”

Kaoru dropped her hand to her sides and Aya could see it shaking, trembling as she herself was too. “It… it was an accident. I-I didn’t mean to hurt her, but Yukina was dashing towards me, holding her knife out, and I just…” Kaoru trailed off, biting her lip and curling her hands into fists.

“How… How is electrocuting someone an ACCIDENT?” Ran was the second person to speak up, scowling. “Pulling down wires to electrocute someone isn’t just an _accident_. You’re hilarious.” 

“Kaoru-san… is it really you?” Misaki asked, hand over her mouth. She looked to and from Kokoro and back to Kaoru in shock. Aya could see Kokoro’s faint smile as she tried to keep up the facade. 

“I’m sorry, Misaki.” Kaoru bit her lip and those three tiny words shattered any small moment of peace that was even possible at that moment. 

“No.” Chisato’s words didn’t even waver as she stood her ground, watching as the whole group turned to her. 

“Chisato-chan?” Aya muttered Chisato’s name, but the blonde only looked at Aya with a gaze icier than Aya ever thought she could imagine. 

“How could I forget? Kao-chan and I were together the whole day today! There’s no way it's her. It’s not possible!” Chisato’s voice was just as firm as ever, yet Aya thought that she could hear the slightest crack in her tone. 

“Chi-chan, please stop defending me.” Kaoru grimaced as she looked at Chisato, the shorter girl was standing her ground, not looking Kaoru in the eyes. Chisato’s gaze was ice — not a hint of emotion as she defended Kaoru. 

“Stop this, Kao-chan! We were together, you didn’t kill Yukina-chan!” Chisato rolled her eyes, as if she was stating only the absolute truth. If Aya hadn’t spent the last hours trying to figure out who the killer was, she would have been inclined to believe Chisato on voice alone. 

“Chisato, stop!” Kaoru yelled, watching as Chisato’s hands gripped so tightly onto the wooden stand. 

And Chisato fucking _broke_.

Just the sound of Kaoru using her full name was enough to push her over the edge. Tears welled up in her eyes and Chisato began screaming and crying; anything to prove that Kaoru wasn’t the killer. 

Chisato was a good actress, sure, but when faced with a situation as difficult as this, not even she could keep up her cold facade. Chisato bit her lip, trying to quell her tears, but they kept flowing. She felt powerless and Aya knew far too well how she felt. 

“Maruyama-san, would you mind recounting this case from the very beginning?” Sayo asked and Aya nodded sharply.

* * *

_Yukina sat in her room, red pen tightly clenched in her fist. She stared down the paper in front of her. It was easy business to cross off the members of Roselia — hopefully once she killed someone, they’d do the same and they could all reconvene outside of this dumb school._

_It wasn’t too much of a sacrifice Yukina supposed. Just one life and then she could be free with a new music career as an added bonus. Roselia would be fine. They could follow her lead, pick out a couple weak girls, and take them out. It was simple, really._

_Tomoe was the first off the list. Followed by Kaoru, Kokoro, Ran, Hina, and then Kasumi. Arisa, Aya, Chisato, Moca, and Misaki seemed to be far better targets than the others. All of them were probably weaker than Yukina was._

_After a few minutes of careful deliberation, bite marks surrounding the red cap, Yukina carefully circled her final victim. Maruyama Aya._

_Yukina scribbled down a note, not many words but enough to convince Aya to meet with her. Talking about Sayo and Hina seemed to be a good way to capture Aya’s attention. Slipping it under Aya’s door, all she had to do was head to the bathroom and prepare._

_About half an hour later, Yukina sat in the bathroom, knife tightly clenched between her fingers. She let out a shaky breath. There was no way she was getting cold feet now. She was going to go through with this no matter what. It was the only way to make it out of this hellhole alive. She began to fill the sink with water, preparing a place to wash off any blood._

_Her thoughts were cut off by the creak of the bathroom door. Yukina rushed the figure who stepped in, realizing too soon that it wasn’t Aya. Kaoru stepped out of the way, Yukina’s knife just barely catching onto the end of Kaoru’s sleeve and sticking into the wall._

_“Yukina, what are you doing!” Kaoru yelled as she ran around the bathroom, narrowly dodging Yukina’s attacks. Yukina caught sight of the sink which was beginning to spill._

_Yukina didn’t bother responding to Kaoru’s question. Kaoru may not have been her initial target, but it would work the same._

_Seta Kaoru was a dead woman and Yukina would make sure of that._

* * *

_Kaoru narrowly dodged attack after attack, the knife slashing at different spots around the bathroom cutting and slashing the walls around them._

_“Why haven’t I stabbed you yet” Yukina was panting, holding out the knife and charging in on Kaoru once again. Kaoru was growing tired as well, as trying not to hurt Yukina was difficult. It was growing to a point where if Kaoru didn’t do anything,_ she would die. _Suddenly Yukina stepped into the growing water puddle on the floor and slipped. Yukina’s head hit the ground with a heavy thud, her silver hair spreading into the water around her._

_Kaoru had two options. She could leave and let Yukina live or she could kill her. She could take Yukina’s life and escape this damn shithole. With few sacrifices too. Just one life and she could leave. Kokoro would be safe, Misaki would be safe, **Chisato** would be safe. For the small price of one innocent life. _

_Kaoru’s eyes landed on a small hole near the ceiling. Inside of it were multicoloures wires, as if taunting her. Kaoru felt her heart start to beat erratically as she reached up for the wires. She reached them pretty easily, entangling the bright cords in her fingers._

_And it was done in just a second. Yukina was no longer breathing, her eyes carefully shut as she lay on the ground still. There was no blood — none at all, yet Kaoru could still smell the familiar scent of iron in the air. Perhaps it was her conscience trying to convince her to feel bad and perhaps that was the worst of it._

_At that moment, she didn’t feel sad. She felt nothing but excitement at the idea of finally leaving the school. She could tell Chisato about what she did and the two could make it out together. There are no downsides._

_Until her eyes landed on Yukina once more and she was reminded of the fact that she was now a murderer. That she had taken the life of Minato Yukina with no concern. And she felt absolutely disgusted. She had committed the worst crime that one could._

_She was a murderer and there was no way she could repent for it._

* * *

“And the killer of Minato Yukina was you, Seta Kaoru!” Aya announced, pointing forwards at Kaoru. Kaoru let out a sheepish giggle as Aya stared at her. 

“You’ve caught me, kitten.” Kaoru’s voice was light, but a smile never appeared on her face. Aya supposed that was the difference between Chisato and Kaoru. Both were great actresses and Kaoru had always been great at putting on a persona, but she’d never been the best at hiding her true emotions. 

“Kao-chan… please tell me it’s a lie. You’re not the killer. You can’t be.” Chisato’s voice broke as she spoke and it _hurt_. Chisato was always strict and poised — she was ice and power in itself, but now? She was utterly broken as she tried to speak through her sobs. 

“Why’d you do it? Why did you fucking kill her?” Lisa’s voice was quiet, a stark contrast to the rage she’d been previously feeling. She held her hands in tight fists, not willing to look up from her feet.

“It was mostly an act of self-defense, although there is no question that I am guilty of the most heinous crime. I sadly wasn’t aware of the rule that you all would pass if I wasn’t found out. I was planning to confess in the end. I couldn’t do that to all of you. One life was enough.” Kaoru finished, looking around at everyone in the room one by one. Aya couldn’t help but notice, however, that Kaoru’s eyes very carefully slipped over Chisato, whispering silent apologies that only Chisato could decipher. 

“It’s voting time! Press the button in front of you to cast your vote! Who will be chosen as the blackened? Will you make the right choice or the dreadfully wrong one?” Monokuma broke off into a laugh, surveying the group of girls. Aya let out a shaky breath before looking down at the screen in front of her. 

“I apologize once more, kittens. Please cast your votes for me.” Kaoru looked down at her screen, tapping a few buttons before returning her gaze to Chisato. Aya shut her eyes for a second and then carefully selected Kaoru’s name on the screen. 

“Make sure to vote! You wouldn’t want to be punished for something as silly as that, right?” Monokuma looked directly at Chisato, who was staring at her screen with wide eyes. 

A few seconds passed before Aya’s screen lit up in front of her. The screen transformed into what looked to be an 8-bit pixel game. A small pixel version of Kaoru was dragged across the screen by Monokuma. 

_Seta Kaoru has been found guilty.  
Time for punishment! _

“What exactly is punishment?” Sayo asked, standing frighteningly still. There was no nervous tick; she wasn’t playing with her hair or biting her nails or even bouncing her leg. She was simply standing still, the picture of calm. 

“Well, it’s execution of course!” Monokuma scoffed, as if the question really hadn’t been needed in the first place. Aya saw Kaoru’s eyes widen at Monokuma’s word, but she didn’t say a word. 

“Excuse me?” Misaki seemed to be frozen almost as still as Sayo was. She was looking at Kaoru with a pained expression, as if she still hadn’t grasped the extremity of the situation. 

“Kaoru-san’s going to be _executed_?” Kasumi gasped, hand shaking at the thought of it.

“In the games, the characters found guilty have to go through a really bad punishment and at the end they…” Ako trailed off, as if not even wanting to say the words. 

“No, you can’t do that!” Chisato demanded, stomping her foot against the ground. Despite her small stature, she was a force to be reckoned with. 

“You’re acting like I care what you think! Now then, I’ve prepared a very special punishment for Seta Kaoru, the guitarist of Hello Happy World! Let’s give it everything we’ve got! It’ssssss punishment time!” 

Monokuma pressed the button in front of his seat and music began to fill the room. Kaoru looked around and ran to Chisato, carefully pulling her into a tight hug. They were silent for a few seconds, only their sobs filling the room. 

“Promise me, you’ll make it out of here Chi-chan.” Kaoru whispered, pressing a kiss against Chisato’s wet cheek. 

“I will. Please don’t leave me, Kao-chan, we were supposed to make it out of here together.” Chisato’s voice was soft and Aya didn’t think that she’d ever seen the two of them so freely expressing their emotions. They were both so closed off and reserved (albeit in different ways) but now, there was nothing reserved about the way Chisato’s arms dug their way into Kaoru’s back. 

A chain shot through the door and clamped onto Kaoru’s neck, pulling her back. Chisato screamed Kaoru’s name and Kaoru did the same. There was nothing they could do but watch as Kaoru was dragged through the courtroom.

* * *

_Romeo and Juliet  
Seta Kaoru, guitarist of Hello Happy World’s execution: executed._

Kaoru stood on the centre of a large stage, lights shining down on her from above. Aya watched as Kaoru’s eyes carefully slid from person to person. Aya recognized the setting of the stage as the tower from Romeo and Juliet. She’d read it in class about a year ago and thought that the tower scene had been pretty romantic. 

Standing inside of the tower was a figure that looked eerily like Chisato, blonde hair hanging down from the window of the tower. Aya only now noticed the script in Kaoru’s hands. Kaoru began reciting her lines, each one a direct copy from Shakespeare’s famous play. 

Aya couldn’t really pinpoint any specific lines as Kaoru’s acting quickly became drowned out by the sound of boos. There was an audience of Monokuma’s surrounding Kaoru, each one shouting profanities at her.

Aya watched as Kaoru did her best to ignore the jeering crowd, focusing on the script in her hand. Kaoru let out a grunt as something hard hit her stomach. A small rock dropped to the ground in front of her, landing with a crack. 

Then an onslaught of rocks began to pelt at her. Each of the Monokuma’s in the crowd were throwing things at her, laughing as rock after rock after rock smashed against Kaoru. 

Blood trickled down Kaoru’s face, a variety of bruises covering her body. She let out a heavy sigh as the rocks began to slow. Aya tried to look away, but for some strange reason, her eyes were fixated on Kaoru. 

Kaoru slowly limped over to the tower, where the figure out Chisato was still waving from the window. A thick rope hung down and Kaoru reached up for it. Her hands wrapped around and she began to pull herself up. 

The rope chafed on her hands, but Kaoru continued climbing. She rose higher and higher, struggling to reach the top. She was covered in bruises, blood dripping from her face, but she ignored the pain and continued to climb. 

After what seemed to be a painfully long minute, Kaoru reached the top, gripping the edge of the window. She yelled for Chisato with no reply. She then reached out for the figure, wanting nothing more than to cup their face in her hands. 

As her fingertips barely scraped against the figure, it dissolved into an eerie shape. Monokuma was standing in front of Kaoru, blonde wig atop his head and red eye aglow. 

Taken aback by the sudden change, Kaoru slipped backwards, nearly falling out of the window. She managed to grasp onto the ledge, just barely hanging on for her life. She couldn’t see what was below her but she doubted that it would be anything that could break her fall. 

The blonde Monokuma looked down at the hanging Kaoru. Kaoru was begging for her life, barely able to see straight through the mix of blood and tears smeared on her face. A few seconds later, the Monokuma stepped forward, as if to take Kaoru’s hand and lift her up. 

He stepped on Kaoru’s fingers instead, her gasp of pain echoing throughout the room. Her grip loosened and she dangled dangerously close to falling. She let out another scream before her hand slipped off the ledge. 

She fell further and further down. It felt like an eternity of Kaoru just _falling_. Then she landed. She landed into a large rose bush situated beneath her. The thorns pricked into her sides, drawing even more blood, but it didn’t really matter. 

Kaoru was dead on impact.

* * *

Chisato was screaming. Aya couldn’t really hear anything, all she knew was that Chisato was screaming. Maybe she was screaming too. It was all blurred together, less like reality and more like imagination. 

The execution was like a film; a fictitious story. It wasn’t real. It _couldn’t_ be real. Kaoru couldn’t be gone, forever, like Yukina. Two of her friends couldn’t be gone so easily. Aya felt sick.

“Wha… what the fuck was that?” Ran gasped, hands shaking, her eyes wet with tears. Tomoe was right behind her, hand over her mouth, while Moca was to her right, eyes shut tightly and looking away. 

“What’s wrong? I thought you guys wanted to avenge your _precious_ Yukina hmm? I did just that! All for you guys.” Monokuma cackled. The weight of his words slapped Aya in the face cruelly. The reminder of Kaoru’s fall and Yukina’s curled body were still fresh in her mind. 

“You’re sick! That was fucking sick! I wanted revenge, but not like _that_!” Lisa screamed, sinking down and putting her head into her hands, “She was- she was defending herself! Yeah, it’s fucked up that she murdered Yukina, it’s so fucked up, but it was nothing compared to that!”

Aya didn’t know what to do, didn’t know what to say. There weren’t any words that could describe the feeling that went through the room. 

The feeling of impending doom? Despair? Aya didn’t want to think about it.

Aya watched the group look at each other, eyes wide as they weren’t even sure if they could trust each other. Aya watched as Lisa slung an arm around Chisato’s shoulders. She watched as neither Lisa nor Chisato spoke a word, instead opting for a comfortable silence between the two of them. Aya supposed that those two could understand each other the most now. 

The two walked out together, quiet with their arms around each other. Sayo followed behind them at a distance. Aya watched them leave, followed by the rest of the group slowly trickling out. No one bothered to speak to each other, the shock of the situation too much for any of them to process. Aya returned to her room, crawling inside of her bed. 

_Maybe if I sleep, it’ll all be just a terrible nightmare._ And as she pulled the blankets over herself, she knew it was just wishful thinking. 

**Chapter 1 END  
Remaining students; 14/16 **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and the first chapter concludes!!! i hope this case was sorta entertaining lmao i really liked writing this execution i was excited for it


	7. Daily Life

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tensions grow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i fucking love lisa she is literally just writing the majority of this fic now i love her pls tell her u love her and that i would like to marry her  
> ran is lisas favourite character and she keeps going "LETS ADD MORE RAN SCENES"

_Blood. There was blood everywhere. The familiar scent of iron filled the air. She couldn’t smell anything but blood. Hina was standing in front of her, but it wasn’t Hina. Her blue hair was tinted red, streaks of blood lining her face. Hina looked strange though. Was her hair longer? Wait, was that Hina or Sayo? Aya couldn’t tell. The figures blended together and Aya stumbled backwards._

__

_She raised her hands to her chest, feeling something sticky coat her hands. Red liquid spilled from her chest. She was dying. She was fucking dying. There was a knife in her chest and she hadn’t even noticed it until now. She was slowly bleeding out and she couldn’t do anything to change it._

__

_She was useless._

__

_Uselessuselessuselessuselessuselessuseless._

Aya shot up awake in a cold sweat, breathing heavily, the room spinning. Nothing was straightforward. She couldn’t focus on anything yet everything felt so vivid for some strange reason. Every colour was too bright and even the silence was too loud. 

She couldn’t breathe. She was dying. Just like in her dream. She reached up to her shirt, expecting to feel the familiar cold of blood dripping down her fingers. Yet there was nothing. 

She was safe. She wasn't dead. She was alive. 

“Aya-chan, open the door.” Hina’s voice was as loud as ever from just beyond Aya’s door. Aya wondered how Hina had known to show up, but she ignored it. She slowly climbed out of bed and opened the door, revealing a disheveled Hina. 

And at the sight of Hina, Aya thought that she might collapse. She and Hina were both safe. Hina was standing in front of her, blue hair pulled into a tight ponytail and eyes wide. Hina was perfect in all that she was. 

The two entered Aya’s room and didn’t bother to speak. Aya couldn’t really think of anything besides the warm feeling of Hina’s hands on her own. Hina was safe. Hina was Aya’s safe place. Hina was the only good left in this world and Aya wasn’t sure just how lucky she’d been to end up with her. 

There was nothing — absolutely nothing except for Hina’s warm embrace. 

Aya was safe and it was because of Hina. She would live to see another day. She was _happy._

* * *

Hina was gone when Aya woke up. 

She’d guessed that it would happen, but it didn’t hurt any less. Hina had made Aya feel safe and now there was nothing but the cold, empty bed beside her. 

Aya remembered her dream, the sick sequence of events bringing bile up her throat. She shut her eyes. She wasn’t dead. She was alive. She just had to remember that. Yukina had wanted to kill her, but she hadn’t. That was the important part, wasn’t it? 

Aya clambered to the kitchen, needing something to fill the gaping hole in her stomach. She wasn’t surprised to find most of the girls already there, sitting around the table and talking as if nothing had happened. 

Lisa wasn’t there. Neither were Sayo or Chisato. 

Aya took a seat next to Hina, who squeezed her hand when she sat down. Arisa passed over a plate and Aya toyed with her food, pushing it around on the plate before eating it. 

She felt sick as she ate. Yukina should’ve been there. Kaoru should’ve been there. It wasn’t the same, not without Kaoru re-enacting Shakespeare and Yukina scoffing everytime someone spoke. It was only little things, but Aya missed every single action she could remember the two girls doing. 

They were laughing and talking. They were happy. How could they be so fucking happy? Two of them were dead. Their friends were gone forever and they were still smiling. 

Misaki wasn’t. 

Misaki sat at the edge of the table, eyes staring down at her food. She wasn’t eating, just staring at her bowl as if it offended her. Kokoro sat next to her, poking Misaki’s shoulder with a smile on her face, but Misaki didn’t move a muscle. She sat almost completely still.

Aya could see Ran, Moca, and Tomoe conversing off to the side from the corner of her eyes. Moca said mumbled something with a sly smile and Aya could see Ran chuckle as Tomoe threw her head back to laugh. They looked so carefree. How could anyone still be _okay_ after what all of them experienced. It baffled Aya.

A plate was set gently in front of Aya, who looked up to meet eyes with Chisato. Her eyes were red and puffy, and it wasn’t hard to guess how she spent her night yesterday. Lisa was standing next to her, arm slung around Chisato’s shoulder. It was a small gesture, but both girls seemed to be more comfortable with the other around. Lisa gave a weak smile to the table before sitting down next to Chisato. 

Neither Lisa nor Chisato spoke, sitting next to each other in dead silence. The loud chattering of the group had quieted down when they’d appeared and Aya shot Hina a look, wondering if she should try to talk to Chisato. 

“Hey Chisato! Hi Lisa! How come you guys are frowning? That doesn’t look very happy.” Kokoro walked up to the two girls and Aya realized that Kokoro was simply unable to process negative emotions. Everything was happy for her. Everything had a bright side. She couldn’t feel sadness or anger. 

“Shut the fuck up.” Chisato gritted her teeth, not looking at Kokoro. Kokoro didn’t seem to even understand what she’d done wrong. Everything was sunshines and rainbows to her. Aya almost wished that she could be half as optimistic as Kokoro was. 

“I said it was a bad idea coming here. Chisato, let’s go.” Lisa whispered softly, wrapping an arm around Chisato’s shoulders. Chistao didn’t wave goodbye — not even to Aya, her best friend. She watched the two girls leave and perhaps there was a newly created bond between them. A bond forged in blood and pain. A bond that in any other situation would have never existed. 

“God, I am so sick of you, honestly. I am sick of you and your dumb _fucking_ smile.” Ran mumbled. Aya could see the alarm in Moca’s face as she tried to get Ran to quiet down, reaching over. Ran shoved Moca’s hands away and turned to Kokoro, glaring. 

“What do you mean, Ran? We should all be happy!” Kokoro exclaimed, jumping in excitement. Ran laughed in disbelief, looking around, before standing up and leaning into Kokoro’s face. 

“Don’t be surprised if you’re the next one to wind up _dead._ ” 

“Ran,” Tomoe stood up, eyes wide. “Don’t say that!”

“Tomoe, this sicko is smiling. There are people dead and she’s _smiling_. She thinks murder is all fine and dandy because life is so happy! There’s something fucking wrong with her.” Ran broke off into a strained laugh while Kokoro continued to stare up at her, eyes wide. The whole room was silent as the two girls stared at each other, neither one daring to move. 

Something heavy hung in the air. Whether it was tension, disbelief, or perhaps a mix of both; it was thick enough for Aya to practically reach up and cut it with a knife. 

“Woah! Am I interrupting something here?” Monokuma appeared in front of the group, smiling just as wide as Kokoro had been before, “The second floor of the school is now open! You can go check out all of the new rooms we’ve provided for you.” 

“We?” Aya repeated, the small word striking her as odd. It had always been ‘I’ before. ‘I created this’ and ‘I’m enjoying this’. We insinuated that there was someone else and if there was someone else, there was no telling just how many others were involved. 

“Oops, _I’ve_ provided!” Monokuma laughed, disappearing in a puff of smoke before anyone could say another word. 

“I’ll go check them out.” Ran said, avoiding Moca and Tomoe’s eyes as she walked out the room. 

“Wait, Ran-” Moca stood up to go after Ran. There was something wrong, something definitely wrong. Aya really didn’t know what she was meant to do. 

“Don’t follow me.” Ran cut her off before leaving, no one speaking another word. The cafeteria after that had nothing to say. There was nothing but quiet as everyone felt the uncomfortable silence that sat on their shoulders. 

* * *

Aya thought that she might as well tell Chisato and Lisa about the new second floor, as they had left before Monokuma had been able to tell them. Aya decided to tell Chisato first, since she was her best friend. 

However, when she was in front of the blonde girl’s door, she hesitated. What if Chisato didn’t want to see her? It would be awkward, but Aya shook her head and knocked on the door. A few knocks later and the door finally opened, a small blonde head poking out. 

“Oh, Aya-chan.” 

“Chisato-chan! Uhm, I’m just here to tell you about the new area that opened. Monokuma announced it after you and Lisa-chan left. I was wondering if you wanted to explore it together?” 

A pause. 

“Sure Aya-chan, I’ll come with you.” Chisato stepped out her door, shutting and locking it behind her. She brushed her hair behind her shoulder and took a breath. “Let’s go shall we?” 

Aya gave her a smile, and nodded. As they made their way to the stairs which had opened, they could see Hina trailing after Sayo, trying to talk to her. Aya knew eavesdropping was wrong. It was bad and she shouldn’t do it. 

But she wanted to, she wanted to so badly. 

“Onee-chan, I just wanted to check if you were okay.” Hina pouted, following her sister up the stairs. Chisato seemed to notice the two as well and pulled Aya behind a corner, watching Hina and Sayo walk together. 

“Hina, you have no business to talk about my personal matters.” Sayo snapped, turning to face Hina and stopping dead in her tracks. 

“I just knew that you and Yukina-chan were-” 

“Leave me the fuck alone, Hina.” Sayo interrupted, turning on her heel and walking away. She stopped for a moment and Aya watched Hina’s eyes light up in hope that Sayo would come back, “You’re fucking annoying. I wish it had been you dead instead of Minato-san.” 

“Onee-chan?” Hina only mumbled Sayo’s name, before turning away and running. Aya could see something in Sayo’s expression soften as she ran after Hina, yelling her name. 

Aya wanted to run after Hina. She wanted to hug her and tell her it was okay, but Hina’s relationship with her sister had always been complicated. There was something about the two that just couldn’t click. 

Aya simply watched Sayo chase after Hina, unable to do anything to help her girlfriend. Chisato wrapped an arm around Aya and the two began to walk again. 

“Hina-chan will be okay. She’s strong.” Chisato whispered and Aya immediately felt guilt run through her. Chisato’s girlfriend had died and here she was, comforting Aya about the fact that Hina was just sad. 

Chisato had always been the stronger of the two. It was a quality that Aya had always admired. Chisato was the epitome of strength itself and strength would bow to no one. 

Aya and Chisato walked through the hallway on the second floor, unsure of what to expect. They had tried a few doors but none opened, until they made their way to one room labeled “Nurse’s Office.” The door was unlocked, and when opening it, the girls were met with cabinets of medicine bottles with labels on each one of them. 

“Wow… Sleeping, headache, cold, fever, nausea, sore throats, do they have one for everything?” Aya asked, reading off the labels on some of the medicines. Suddenly, Monokuma jumped out of nowhere. 

“That’s right! A school nurse’s office with all the medicines in the world! Fully stocked and all brand new!” He said in his high-pitched voice. “These medicines are better though, they work way faster than those other crappy medicines. You’ll feel these results immediately!” 

“Why would we need these?” Chisato asked, looking around. 

“Well, they would make things interesting, wouldn’t they? Especially with that poison cabinet over there.” Monokuma pointed, before giving a huge laugh and disappearing in a puff of smoke. 

“Poison cabinet?” Aya turned to see where Monokuma was pointing and found that he was indeed telling the truth. There was an entire section dedicated to various different poisons, fast and slow acting ones, all deadly. Aya felt a chill down her spine, backing away from that particular section. 

“Maybe we should check out the other rooms…” Chisato trailed off and walked out the room, clearly worried over the poison as well. Aya quickly followed her, taking one last glance at the room before shutting the door behind her. 

“There should be one or two more rooms that opened for us.” Aya said, running up to Chisato. “I wonder where they are though.” 

“I wonder _what_ they are. Monokuma surprises us every time, and it's never good.” Chisato replied, looking for the other new rooms that the black and white bear mentioned. 

As they walked together, they could hear Tomoe and Moca’s light conversation getting louder as the two talked towards Chisato and Aya. The group passed by them, exchanging nods of acknowledgement and continuing down the hall. Aya assumed Moca and Tomoe were either looking for Ran, or exploring for themselves. Perhaps a mixture of both. 

Finally, they reached a bright red door to the left. Above the door was a golden sign, the edges trimmed with sparkling lights. The curly black letters read “Auditorium.” 

“Is there a stage here? Do you think we can perform here?” Aya asked, turning to Chisato. 

“I assume we can, that was probably its purpose.” Chisato agreed. 

“Ooh, we could do a pretty nighttime show! Everyone would have so much fun!” 

“Ah-ah-ah! No can do.” Monokuma appeared once again in front of Aya and Chisato, clearly enjoying the shock factor he brought. “The auditorium is locked during the night! Your guys’ sleep schedules are all messed up, so we have to put in _some_ sort of measure. Also: it’ll be safer!” 

“When did you ever care about our safety?” Aya asked, incredulous. They were literally in some sort of killing game and this killer bear is preaching about safety. _Incredible, truly incredible Monokuma._

Monokuma laughed, but didn’t offer any further explanation. He didn’t leave this time, which Aya thought was… strange. Chisato sighed and pushed the auditorium’s door open. 

Inside had a stage, as expected. What wasn’t expected was what the stage looked like. 

It looked exactly like the stage Kaoru died on. It looked exactly like the stage Kaoru performed Romeo and Juliet before being pummelled by rocks and then falling to her death. It looked exactly like the tragic scene Chisato’s girlfriend went through and there was Chisato herself standing right in front of it, reliving it. 

Aya didn’t know what to say. 

A laugh rang through the room. Monokuma’s to be exact. A wild, wild laugh full of genuine glee at their despair. 

“You… you BASTARD.” Chisato screamed. Monokuma laughed again, and disappeared in the smoke. 

For a moment there was quiet and then there was nothing but the soft sobs of Chisato echoing throughout the room. She’d fallen to her knees, staring up at the stage with wide eyes. 

Aya bent down next to her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and pulling her in close. There was nothing she could say, absolutely nothing that could make Chisato feel better. 

This stage was stained with death. It ran red with blood and the heavy scent of death filled the air. Chisato would never look at a Shakespeare set without being reminded of Kaoru. That was the neverending stench of death that stained every tower and stage that Aya would now see. 

Aya mumbled a small reassurance to Chisato and led her out of the auditorium. 

* * *

Later on in the day, Aya had decided to go visit Ran, the vocalist of Afterglow. Ran was hard to understand, and Aya felt kind of nervous to talk to her, but she wanted to make sure Ran was okay after what had gone down in the cafeteria this morning. She also wanted to give Chisato space after visiting that awful, awful auditorium. 

She took a deep breath before knocking on Ran’s door, hoping the latter wasn’t in a bad mood. However, after a few moments of knocking, there was no reply. Maybe Ran was sleeping. A ring filled the air as Monokuma announced that it was officially nighttime. 10pm. 

Shrugging, Aya turned back to her room to get some shut eye. In the back of her head, she wondered if she should check on Hina as well, but that would mean admitting to eavesdropping, so she dropped the thought. 

“Bedtime it is then.” Aya mumbled. 

* * *

The next morning, Aya decided to try again with Ran. She determinedly knocked on Ran’s door once, twice- 

The door opened quickly, almost instantaneously, as Aya was about to knock for the third time. She dropped her hand and gave Ran a smile. 

“Hey Ran-chan! How are you? Did you not hear my knocking yesterday?” 

“What knocking? What are you here for Aya-san?” 

“Oh, nevermind, I was just checking up on you! I was worried about what had happened yesterday in the cafeteria and I wanted to make sure you were, uhm, okay.” 

Ran laughs lightly. “Yeah, I’m… fine. Don’t worry about me.” She murmured something under her breath, which was too light for Aya to hear. Something about not deserving it? 

“Want to walk to the cafeteria together?” Aya suggested. It was early morning and around the time they all met up together, so she thought it was worth a shot to ask. Aya was feeling braver these days, she noticed. Ran nodded, closing her door and heading out with Aya. 

The two girls enter the cafeteria together, seeing everyone else in the room. Aya unconsciously scanned the room, counting the heads, before realizing Moca wasn't in the room. 

“Where’s Moca-chan?” Aya asked. 

“I’m not sure, I thought you guys would come in with her.” Arisa replied, crossing her arms. “Ran-chan, do you know?” 

“Moca’s usually a late sleeper, so I assume she’s in her room, but I don’t know.” Ran answered, fiddling with the accessory on her choker. Aya couldn’t blame everyone for being on edge, it had only been a few days since the first trial and the events were still fresh in their minds. 

“Did you guys see the auditorium?” Kasumi asked tentatively. “I was wondering if we should throw on a show for us to enjoy ourselves.” 

“I’d like to.” Aya pointed out. She’d been spending most of her time in her room singing Pastel*Palettes’ songs alone so now she’d have an excuse to perform in front of other people. 

“If you are, I won’t go. Nothing personal, it's just…” Chisato trailed off, unable to finish the sentence, but Aya understood what she meant. It reminded her too much of Kaoru. 

“I want to perform too!” Ako exclaimed, raising her hand. Ako was already miming herself drumming, humming the tune of ‘LOUDER’ under her breath. 

“If Ako-chan is going… then I will come too.” Rinko muttered, fiddling with her hair as she spoke. Ako let out a cheer and smiled at Rinko, immediately making the older girl feel slightly more comfortable. 

“So we have me on guitar and singing, Aya-senpai on vocals, Ako on drums, and Rinko-senpai on keyboard! What about a bassist?” Kasumi asked, scanning the group for someone else who would want to join. 

“The only bassists here are Shirasagi-senpai and Lisa-san and I doubt either of them want to join.” Arisa told Kasumi, huffing as she tried to calm down Kasumi. 

“Aw! Arisa, you should come with us!” Kasumi’s eyes lit up as she shook Arisa’s arm up and down. 

“Huh! No way! Don’t be stupid, I don’t wanna do that.” Arisa huffed, pulling her arm from Kasumi’s grasp. Aya watched the two bicker and felt something stab at her heart. She hadn’t spoken to Hina since she’d eavesdropped on her conversation with Sayo and she really missed Hina’s light teasing. 

“You’re no fun, Arisa!” Kasumi pouted, “Let’s go and play some music!” 

Ako cheered once more and the group of four began to make their way to the auditorium. Aya realized on their way that they’d probably need instruments and most of those were located in their rooms. She assumed that the auditorium would probably have instruments there seeing as it was meant for those kinds of things, but if not, they’d simply have to go back. 

They finally reached the familiar red doors and Kasumi pulled them open with a large thud. As soon as they opened, Aya could tell there was something off about the place. It wasn’t that the setting had changed, but the smell of death in the air was thicker and… realer. 

Kasumi and Ako skipped down to the stage, prepared to grab instruments and play a song. Aya and Rinko followed from a distance, feeling themselves to be more responsible since they were older. 

Ako screamed. 

A scream so loud it rattled the foundation of the building. Aya couldn’t breathe. No, she definitely wasn’t breathing. The sight in front of her wasn't real. There was no way. 

_Not again._

Laying flat on the ground, ivory hair covering her face was the corpse of Aoba Moca, guitarist of Afterglow. The four girls were silent for a minute, unable to speak. Moca was laying in front of them, motionless. 

Her eyes were shut and there was no gentle hum of her breathing to indicate she was asleep. Aya could have hoped her to be only sleeping, but the familiar dinging of an announcement filled the air. 

_Ding dong dong ding_

“A body has been discovered! After a certain amount of time, which you may use however you like, the **class trial** will begin!” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> investigation next chapter <33


	8. Investigation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aya investigates the murder of Aoba Moca.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i love lisa i am in love with her we are kindating as ranaya we are

At some point, the auditorium’s doors must have flung open and the rest of the group had come flooding in. Aya didn’t know when they came in. She felt like she was floating underwater. Sounds felt muted, the silence was deafening, and she didn’t even know if she was breathing or not.

Aya stood frozen staring down at Moca’s body for what seemed like hours upon hours until she felt Hina at her side, taking Aya’s hand into hers. Hina’s hand was the steady presence that pulled Aya out from the waters, finally causing her to inhale deeply and relieve the pressure on her lungs. 

Abruptly, the sounds came back to her, first as loud chatting and whispers, and then as small muffled sobs. Aya tightened her hold on Hina’s hand, to reassure herself that Hina was there.

Suddenly, Monokuma jumped out of nowhere, disruptful and irritating as always. “Gosh… This is so annoying! I haven’t even given you guys a motive yet! I had all these deep regrets of yours and..” He then started to mumble to himself and Aya could barely catch the words. “The blackened just _had_ to go off on their own. Too early, way too early. I’ll have to be harsh...”

“Anyways! Here’s the Monokuma File. The second class trial will begin soon, so please give the investigation your all!” Monokuma stood there expectantly, waiting for someone to make a move.

Sayo walked up to Moca’s body and picked up the dropped Monokuma file, immediately scrolling through it. Aya glanced at Hina, still holding her hand, and wondered if she could walk up to Sayo to read through the file. Aya couldn’t even tell if the twins were still fighting or if they had resolved their previous conflict. 

Without a further moment, Hina led Aya to Sayo, kneeling down next to her. It was as if nothing had happened. As if every tension of the fight Aya had overhead was gone. 

Hina held out a hand and Sayo passed the Monokuma file. Aya didn’t miss, however, the small hesitation as Hina’s hand had brushed against Sayo’s and Aya wondered if they had even resolved their conflict or if they were simply pretending it had not happened. 

The Monokuma File read: 

_The victim was Aoba Moca, guitarist of Afterglow. The time of death was ??????. The scene of death and where the body was discovered was the auditorium in the school. The cause of death was an overdose on sleeping pills from the nurse’s office. There are no other conspicuous external injuries found on the body._

“No external injuries?” Aya asked aloud, mostly to herself. Aya scanned over Moca’s body just to make sure, but the Monokuma File was not wrong. Moca looked peaceful laying there on the ground. There were no bruises or cuts on her face or hands. No blood nor other objects found nearby. 

_No other objects?_ Aya looked over Moca again and realized that the pill bottle Moca must have used was nowhere to be found. Moca was lying on the stage alone with nothing else to accompany her. Except…

Sayo walked over and kneeled to pick up a black object sitting next to Moca’s body. She held it up to the light and Aya could see that it was a hairpin. 

Sayo’s eyes widened a bit, but she quickly blinked the look away before Aya could identify what it was.

“There’s something that looks like rust on the end of the clip.” Sayo said, dropping her hand to look closer at it. “Rust or blood.”

“Wait, why is Moca-chan’s time of death not given to us?” Hina asked, leaning over Aya’s shoulder. Aya looked back down at the Monokuma File and reread the bold “????” in place of Moca’s time of death. 

“I have… no idea.” Aya said, puzzled. Suddenly, Monokuma spoke up again. Aya had almost forgotten he was still in the room. _Almost_.

“Pupupupu, that’s for you to figure out! I can’t give _everything_ away now!” 

“How tedious.” Sayo said.

“I’m not surprised honestly. This plushie wouldn’t dare give up an opportunity to annoy us anyways.” Arisa said, crossing her arms. 

“Plushie? I am NOT a plushie!” Monokuma countered. 

“Who cares about the difference?” Arisa rolled her eyes. Arisa looked down at Moca and bit her lip before turning to Kasumi. “Let’s go investigate, hm?” 

Kasumi nodded slowly, still clearly upset, and followed Arisa out of the auditorium. Aya’s eyes followed them out before looking back down at the Monokuma file. So many things made no sense. She sighed before handing it back to Sayo and running a hand through her hair.

Lisa and Chisato stood close together in a corner of the auditorium. It looked like they were consoling each other, but it was hard to tell from Aya’s distance. She could also see a few people missing.

_It must be so hard for them to see this happen again. Another murder, another execution._

“This murder happened fast.” Sayo muttered under her breath, Aya barely managing to hear the soft words. Hina perked up from where she had been examining the body. Sayo noticed the small movement and turned to Hina, “You noticed it too, right Hina?”

“Noticed what?” Aya furrowed her eyebrows, frowning as she picked at her nails. Even with the tension between the twins, there was always some sort of secret language between them; as if they could understand each other when no one else could. 

“This murder was on purpose, not like the last one. It’s barely been a day, there’s no way that an accident happened that fast.” Hina finished, holding out a hand for the Monokuma file once more. She looked over it again, eyes wildly running from top to bottom and then top to bottom again. 

“Someone killed Moca on purpose? No way. There’s no fucking way. Moca’s never done anything worthy of being murdered.” Tomoe stood up, brushing a hand through her hair. Ran was on the ground, not having spoken a word since the discovery. 

“There may not have been a vendetta. What reason did Minato-san have for choosing Maruyama-san to kill at first? There was no personal grudge. Perhaps that is what happened to Aoba-san. A kill of unfortunate timing and circumstance.” Sayo finished, standing up and leaving the room. Tomoe scrambled to chase after her, no doubt wanting to give her a piece of her mind. 

“I’m going to find Moca’s killer.” Ran muttered, standing up from where she’d been previously curled up on the floor. Aya peered over at her, trying to catch a glimpse of her face. 

Ran’s face was dry. Not a tear in sight. It wasn’t that she didn’t care, even Aya could tell that Ran cared far more than she’d ever show. But it was exactly that reason. Ran wouldn't show it. She would find Moca’s killer. She’d stated it herself and Aya felt inclined to believe it. That was just the way Ran did things. She was strong and unwavering, just like her voice. 

“If the cause of death was sleeping pills, then where are they?” Aya wondered aloud as she walked throughout the auditorium, exploring every little crack. No one had mentioned the pills yet so far so she could only assume that no one had found them. 

Actually, Sayo had been the only one to bring up any evidence whatsoever; the hairpin she found on Moca’s body. She hadn’t mentioned if it was rust or blood, but it was a start. 

“I have the sleeping pills.” a small voice piped up from near the back of the room. Aya turned around to see Lisa, arms crossed at her chest and lip nearly bleeding from how hard she was biting it. 

Aya waited for Lisa to continue, to explain why she had the pills. Lisa had to know that this was going to make her look suspicious, right? But there was no way Lisa committed a murder. She wouldn’t. Not after what happened to Yukina. Aya wouldn't believe it. 

But she never would’ve believed that any one of her friends committed murder in any other circumstance. 

“I was having issues sleeping so I went to the nurse’s office to find something to help. I found a bottle of sleeping pills, but it was only around a quarter full so I guess that’s what the- the uh, killer used.” Lisa explained, fiddling with her hair as she spoke. Her eyes never rose to meet Aya’s throughout the whole conversation, instead opting to remain glued to the ground. 

Aya hated it. Lisa was confident and kind. She was bold and she did whatever the hell she wanted. Now she didn’t. Now, she was soft-spoken and couldn’t even look Aya, one of her close friends, in the eyes. 

Did you see anyone near the nurse’s office?” Aya asked, eyes widening as she realized that this could be practically the reveal of the killer. Perhaps Lisa had seen the killer trying to return the sleeping pills to the nurse’s office. 

“Mmmm, I saw Ran when I was heading there, but that’s about it.” Lisa finished, biting down on her lip. Ran couldn’t be the killer, could she? 

“Thanks for your testimony, Lisa-chan!” Aya told Lisa, squeezing her shoulder once in a way to show that while Aya might not have understood, she wanted to help. 

“Aya, promise me something.” Lisa mumbled, voice barely above a whisper. Aya leaned in, waiting for Lisa to finish, “Promise me you’ll find the killer. I know you can do it.” 

“Of course, Lisa-chan! I’ll do my best.” Aya forced a smile onto her face as if she was strong. Aya could fake confidence (all in a day’s work as an idol). She would do what she could to reassure Lisa that everything would be okay. 

Aya’s eyes wandered to Ran, the younger girl kneeling next to Moca’s body. She slowly walked over to her, bending down to look at what Ran was inspecting. 

“The killer cared enough to fix her up a little. Even Moca didn’t care to fix her own hair.” Ran muttered. Aya could see Ran’s hands shaking as she brushed Moca’s hair out of her face. 

“Ah, Ran-chan. I was wondering uhm, Lisa-chan said she saw you in the nurse’s office. If you don’t mind me asking, why were you there?”

“Hm? Oh. I accidentally stabbed my finger on a pencil earlier when I was in my room, so I went to the nurse’s office to get a bandage. I saw Lisa-san when I left.” She lifted up her still shaking hand and showed Aya the brown bandage on her finger. “Am I a suspect?”

Aya shook her head. “I was just wondering.” It was still hard for Aya to wrap her head around the idea that one of them had killed yet another one of their friends. 

“Maruyama-san.” Sayo entered the auditorium, waiting for Aya by the doorway. Aya waved a small goodbye to Ran before running off to meet with Sayo. 

“Did you find something?” Aya asked, tilting her head as she tried to peer around Sayo’s back. Sayo’s hands were tightly clenched around a small item — one that Aya couldn’t really make out. 

“I searched some rooms and found sleeping pills, the presumed cause of death, in Imai-san’s room.” Sayo’s voice hitched but just for a moment. Aya knew that it must’ve hurt Sayo to even have to think about Lisa being the killer, but it was a possibility and every possibility had to be explored. 

“Lisa-chan admitted to having them already. She said she was having trouble sleeping.” Aya bit her nail, only now realizing that Hina had walked up behind her. Hina placed a hand on Aya’s shoulder, as if to try and reassure her that everything would be okay. 

“That is not all. I found a bobby pin outside of Imai-san’s door.” Sayo lifted up the small black pin, handing it to Aya. She then showed off a hairpin; black and shaped like a small heart, “I found this by Aoba-san’s body as well.” 

“It looks familiar.” Hina muttered, reaching over to take the pin from Sayo. Hina looked at the pin, turning it over in her hand to inspect every angle. Without another word, Sayo snatched it back, dropping it into her pocket. Sayo walked away from the two, not bothering to even wave goodbye. 

_Ding dong bing bong._

“Please make your way to the large red door by the gym! The class trial is about to begin!” the familiar sound of the announcement filled the air as Aya’s head snapped towards the large tv hanging on the side of the wall. The screen quickly flicked off and Aya watched as the rest of the girls slowly trickled out of the auditorium. 

Hina held out a hand, taking Aya’s hand before they walked off. It really did feel like a dream — like none of it was real. She’d have to participate in another class trial. She’d have to sentence another one of her friends to _death_. One more life to save the rest of them. 

One life for the rest of them to live through another round of killing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> follow me and lisa on twitter guys  
> @MlUSGF (yes lowercase L not capital i)  
> @mitakesgf


	9. Class Trial part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The class trial begins!!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi guys did you miss us :D

For some reason, the air felt more dense than the last time they were here. Standing in front of the elevator, they waited for Monokuma’s arrival, for another stupid announcement. 

There was just silence as the girls stood around. All in their respective bands: Poppin’ Party, Afterglow, Pastel*Palettes, Roselia, and Hello Happy World! (at least, what was left of those groups. Aya didn’t want to think about that.)

“Hello! Did’ya miss me?” Monokuma laughed as he appeared, a steep contrast in moods. Not that anyone replied to him.

“Aw man… you guys are downers.” He seemed to deflate as he said that. The group ignored him as they entered the now open elevator and began their descent.

Aya held Hina’s hand tighter as they stood in the elevator. No matter how many times they would have to do this, she heavily doubted that she would ever get used to the feeling.

She glanced at the girls that stood in the elevator with her, wincing when she remembered that three girls were missing. Yukina, Kaoru一 and now一 Moca. The reminder that they were going to sentence another one of her friends to the same fate didn’t make her feel any better.

She swallowed nervously, looking down at the feet, as she waited for the elevator doors finally to open. 

When they did, a familiar courtroom stood in front of the group, ready for yet another trial. Aya took a deep breath, her head spinning. Hina gave a squeeze of their hands and smiled comfortingly at Aya. It helped. A little, at least.

Aya could still feel the impending feeling of dread as she stepped up onto her podium. Another class trial where she sentenced her friends to death. How long would this go on for?

Aya could only hope it would end before she was the next victim.

Monokuma’s voice echoed around the courtroom as he announced the beginnings of their second ever class trial.

“Before we begin, let me explain the rules of the class trial in simple terms. Your job is to figure out the identity of the blackened, and vote on who to accuse! Should you correctly identify the culprit, they alone will be punished. But if you vote for the wrong person…

Then everyone _except_ the blackened shall be punished, and the culprit shall be given permission to leave the school!”

“Yeah, yeah we get the rules. Can we get on with the trial?” Ran shifted from heel to heel as she fiddled with her choker. The addition of Kaoru, Yukina’s, and Moca’s portraits with red crosses over their faces didn’t help ease the tense ambience.

“Oooh, excited are we?” Monokuma cackled. “Well, let the trial begin!”

“So.. What should we begin with?” Kokoro asked, bouncing up and down in actual excitement. Ran closed her eyes in annoyance, restraining herself from saying anything.

“How about how Moca-chan died?” Chisato suggested. 

“I-It was in the Monokuma File, wasn’t it? An overdose on pills?” Rinko said, immediately looking back to Ako for her comfort. 

“Well, we don’t know if she took them herself or if someone.. made her, right? That’s not included in the Monokuma File.” Chisato explained. _If Moca killed herself, do we still need a class trial?_ Aya thought.

“Do class trials still occur when one commits suicide?” Sayo asked aloud, addressing Monokuma. Aya looked up in surprise as Sayo seemingly read her very mind. 

“Well of course!” Monokuma answered, cackling. “A murder is a murder if it doesn’t happen from natural occurences! A suicide means you’ve killed the most important existence of all: yourself. Unfortunately, that means there’s no blackened to punish but… I’ll figure something out then.”

“Wait, what do you mean? Doesn’t it make sense that Moca committed suicide?” Kokoro looked quizzically off to the side. “Down go the pills! Out goes Moca!” 

“Moca would _never_ kill herself. She’s stronger than that!” Ran glared at Kokoro, as she always did. If Ran noticed Tomoe’s worried stare, she didn’t acknowledge it in any way. 

“But, isn’t it obvious why it’s not a suicide?” Hina looked at Sayo, almost as if she was asking for Sayo’s approval. Sayo averted her eyes and Hina continued, “Aya-chan, don’t you think so?” 

“Ah, right. Think about the pill bottle that held the pills. The bottle was put back right? Moca-chan couldn’t have gotten up and just returned it after she was done.” Aya said. 

“This doesn’t make any sense as to how it’s a murder though. How did the killer force Moca-chan to take pills?” Arisa wondered aloud. “You wouldn’t shove it down her throat, would you?” Arisa’s eyebrows furrowed as she thought of the scenario before shaking her head.

“Maybe they put it in her food or something?” Kasumi’s eyes wandered to Arisa, the only person that she knew she could really trust. Something stabbed at Aya’s heart. Toyama Kasumi; the most _trusting_ person ever was suspicious of her own friends. The feeling hadn’t really sunk in yet, but from the long looks that each person sent only to the ones they trusted, it became more and more apparent. 

“When would they have done it though? The murder happened during the night so what? The killer and Moca just wanted to get a midnight snack together?” Lisa asked, trailing off into something of a nervous laugh. 

“Well, we have no proof they did or didn’t if no one was in the kitchen.” Sayo answered, looking at Lisa with something that was a little less concern and a little more of a smile at Lisa, letting out even the smear of a laugh. Aya wondered if Sayo had even seen Lisa smile once since Yukina’s death. 

A beat passed and no one spoke, instead exchanging glares. Aya instantly looked at Hina and she realized just how funny it was, that it wasn’t just _her_ instinct to look at the person she cared for the most, but it was also everyone else’s. Arisa at Kasumi, Misaki at Kokoro, even Lisa looked to Sayo.

“Misaki, why didn’t you say that we were in the kitchen last night?” Kokoro asked, head tilting to the side as if it’s taken her this long to remember exactly what she was doing last night. 

“Kokoro!” Misaki tried to quiet her down, but all eyes had already turned to watch her, “I didn’t want to make us suspects.” 

“Lying is only going to make you look more suspicious, Okusawa-san.” Sayo frowned and it only now struck Aya that people were lying. That someone in the group was going to lie in order to try and get them all killed. And perhaps it would be more malicious than Kaoru had been. Perhaps it would be on purpose. 

“I know, I just- look, we didn’t do it, okay? Kokoro can vouch for me and I can vouch for her. I just didn’t want to cause any trouble.” Misaki sighed, biting at her nails as she spoke. 

“Well? Did you see anyone come into the kitchen?” Aya asked, rocking back and forth slightly in her stand. She tried to settle her nervous ticks, but instead her fingers went straight back to picking at her nails. 

“No, I didn’t. It was just me and Kokoro.” Misaki said. 

“Misaki made a really good chocolate cake!” Kokoro nearly bounced out of her stand as she spoke, eyes lighting up as she talked about Misaki. 

“Yeah, I did make a pretty good cake.” Aya watched a soft smile form on Misaki’s face as she looked over at Kokoro, complimenting her midnight baking. 

“You see, Okusawa-san? That was all you had to say and lying got you nowhere.” Sayo crossed her arms, learning backwards as a heavy sigh dropped out of her mouth. 

“Yeah, I get it, I get it.” Misaki repeated, trying to ignore Sayo’s glare as it dug into her. If looks could kill, then maybe they’d be having another class trial after this one. 

“So what? This whole conversation got us fucking nowhere.” Tomoe banged on her stand, fist slamming against the rough wood, “I want to find out who killed Moca already!” 

“No, that’s wrong! The conversation did get us somewhere. We know for certain that Moca-chan took these pills because she wanted to. But that means that…. uh…” Aya trailed off, a little unsure on how to articulate her thoughts, “She took pills on her own, and someone was there with her?”

“So the culprit is likely someone she trusts cause I know I wouldn’t take deadly pills around just anyone.” Chisato raised her eyebrows, trying to visualize the scene. “Especially fast-acting pills.”

“So who here is close friends with Moca-chan?” Arisa asked, watching as each person of the group began to look to the people they knew were friends with Moca. Ran and Tomoe were the first to put their hands up, followed by a slower Lisa. 

“So the murderer has to be one of you three.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i wish i could tell you when the next chapters gonna be out but i have no clue


End file.
